Congress must prioritize NC's transportation network
Published September 10, 2015
by Lew Ebert, President NC Chamber of Commerce,published in Asheville Citizen-Times, August 28, 2015.
Considering the state of North Carolina’s roads and bridges, it’s hard to believe policymakers in Washington would duck their responsibility to provide long-term, ongoing funding for ours and the rest of America’s highways, bridges and transportation network. Yet that’s exactly what the U.S. House of Representatives has done.
In July, after years of taking a short-term approach, while the U.S. Senate finally passed a bill to fund the nation’s transportation systems for six years, legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives only funds those networks through October. The pace at which the U.S. House is seeking to ‘fix’ our ailing transportation infrastructure would suggest our network is fine when, actually, it’s far from it.
Organizations including nonprofit transportation research group TRIP, AAA, the American Farm Bureau Federation, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and U.S. Travel Association recently released a report on rural roads that reminds us just how urgent the situation is and the very real impact it has on communities in North Carolina and across America.
The “Rural Connections: Challenges and Opportunities in America’s Heartland” report found traffic crashes and fatalities on rural roads in North Carolina are significantly higher than all other roads in the state. In 2013, non-Interstate rural roads in North Carolina had the 14th highest traffic fatality rate nationally and three and a half times higher than the traffic fatality rate for all other roads in North Carolina.
The report also found that rural bridges in North Carolina have significant deficiencies. In 2014, 14 percent of North Carolina’s rural bridges were rated as structurally deficient, the 13th highest rate in the nation.
AAA said: “The 61 million people who live in America’s rural heartland deserve a transportation system that is safe, efficient and reliable. It is up to Congress to pass a fully funded, long-term bill to improve our nation’s rural roads before the Highway Trust Fund runs out of money this summer.”
The American Farm Bureau Federation said: “Deteriorated and deficient rural roads and bridges are hindering our nation’s agricultural goods from reaching markets at home and abroad and slowing the pace of economic growth in rural America.”
The U.S. Travel Association said, “As conditions deteriorate, people are going to be less likely to travel. Additionally, if every traveler made just one fewer trip because of substandard roads, the cost to the economy would be $23 billion.”
And the view of U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which also leads the Americans for Transportation Mobility Coalition: “Years of inadequate transportation funding have left a deficient rural transportation network that does not meet present-day demands. Improving the transportation system will create jobs today and leave a lasting asset for future generations.”
The TRIP report underscores the critical nature of meeting the state’s need for a safe and efficient transportation network as additional demands are placed on the current system. Our state is facing a crisis and the business community is not only concerned about the impact of inadequate federal surface transportation revenues but also inadequate transportation infrastructure funding at the state level.
With long-term federal transportation legislation stuck in political gridlock in Washington, economic growth in rural communities in our own state and others could be threatened. We are encouraged that members of the N.C. General Assembly aren’t waiting for Washington. State leaders are prioritizing this issue and working to find ways to invest in North Carolina’s future. The quality of life in North Carolina’s and America’s small communities and rural areas and the health of the rural economy is highly reliant on the quality of rural transportation networks.
The statewide business community relies on a strong transportation network and supply chain to move products efficiently in and out of the state marketplace. Now is the time to secure a diversified, stable and economically efficient revenue model to meet North Carolina’s long-term transportation needs. North Carolina cannot afford to wait.
It’s time for North Carolina to tell Congress to take seriously the need to fix our rural roads — and all of our transportation infrastructure. No more delays, no more excuses.
Lew Ebert is president and CEO of the North Carolina Chamber, a nonpartisan business advocacy organization that works in the legislative, regulatory and political arenas to proactively drive positive change to ensure that North Carolina is a leading place in the world to do business. www.nccantaffordtowait.com
