Gridlock on highways
Published July 21, 2014
Editorial by Burlington Times-News, July 20, 2014.
Believe it: Gridlock in Washington can lead to gridlock right here in North Carolina. And if Congress can’t get past the partisan bickering that has made it one of the least productive in history, we will see the effects in the form of delays on important road construction projects.
The N.C. Department of Transportation says failure of Congress to reach an agreement to keep the Federal Highway Trust Fund would delay a number of road improvement projects in the state. Those delays also would cost hundreds to thousands of jobs at a time when our state is just coming back from the worst downturn in recent memory.
The trust fund, which is built on federal fuel tax revenues, is rapidly dwindling. Officials say it could be insolvent as early as next month. That’s a scary thought. Allowing our roadways and transportation systems to deteriorate would cripple economic growth.
North Carolina faces a similar problem funding its roads. The state gas tax, which used to rise and fall along with prices, has been capped.
Add to that higher construction costs, more fuel-efficient cars on the road and reduced driving as gas prices creep up, and you have a formula that will increase the growing gap between transportation needs and available revenue.
Many potential solutions have been looked at — among them, toll roads, taxing drivers on how many miles they drive each year, public-private construction agreements, and additional fees on fuel-efficient vehicles (especially hybrids and electric cars). All have their drawbacks, as does increasing either the state or federal gas tax.
The White House issued a report recently outlining the sorry state of America’s roads. North Carolina fares better than most, but 11 percent of our roads and as many as 30 percent of our bridges are considered deficient. That likely doesn’t even include roads that don’t exist but that will be necessary as our state continues to add residents faster than most other states.
No one relishes paying more, but someone has to pay for our transportation network. It is vital to our economic future. Broken and overcrowded roads and bridges cause delays in delivering products, increase maintenance cost and reduce fuel efficiency and discourage businesses from locating in a particular area.
Common sense would suggest that more than one remedy may be needed to fatten federal and state highway funds and to ensure that our transportation network remains one of our strongest economic drivers. But reaching a solution requires serious discussions, not partisan jabs and grandstanding.
It also requires that both politicians and Americans face the hard truth that the cost of good roads must be borne by all of us.
July 21, 2014 at 2:33 pm
Pattie Marshall says:
Toll roads is one avenue. However
a P3 50 year contract with all revenues going to a company headquartered in Spain is not the answer for I77. Profit for Cintra is estimated at 50 billion which will be taken out of the local economy when the 50 year contract ends. Just mind boggling. How could Tom Tillis, whoco-sponsored the P3 bill, think this is good for NC? One can only imagine how he will further help North Carolinians as our state Senator...
