Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx swung through the Carolinas last week to press the local and regional importance of a $500 billion federal infrastructure improvement plan.
Biden and Foxx stressed that the six-year plan to fund new highway, bridge and mass transit construction projects is not only sorely needed to repair and replace the nation’s deteriorating infrastructure but also a proven mechanism to promote long-term economic growth.
That’s a drumbeat Gov. Pat McCrory has been beating statewide for quite awhile.
Biden and Foxx, the former Charlotte mayor, found a receptive audience in the Queen City. Foxx said Charlotte’s dramatic growth can be attributed to a substantial investment in infrastructure projects during the past three decades.
McCrory, also a former Charlotte mayor, proposed a $1.2 billion state bond issue last fall to fund transportation projects in the state’s mostly rural areas to address neglected infrastructure needs and to help jump-start local economies still not reaping much benefit from the economic recovery from the Great Recession.
The governor reiterated his call for a new transportation bond issue in his recent State of the State address, but so far his fellow Republicans who control the N.C. General Assembly have been cool to the idea of the state borrowing more money. But if the state is to issue new general obligation bonds, the time to do it is sooner rather than later, while interest rates remain at historically low levels.
McCrory is calling for a balanced approach that focuses on bridges, highways, ports, light rail and other mass transit that will help forge new links between the state’s roadways, rail lines, ports and airports.
North Carolina and the nation have neglected to keep pace with the ever-increasing infrastructure improvements needed to ensure economic prosperity in the 21st century. The time to begin playing catch-up is now.
