To see economic growth, we must fix transportation network

Editorial by Wilmington Star-News, January 15, 2015.

Leaders don't look at a problem and say, "We can't do it. We can't afford it." Real leaders take the approach that we can't afford not to make that investment necessary to solve it. The question then becomes, "How?"

When it comes to meeting the state's transportation needs, the answer has been elusive, but finding it should be among the top priorities for the newly convened N.C. General Assembly. Our roads, bridges, transit, railway, air and port networks are directly tied to our potential for economic growth. Without an adequate investment, economic development potential will be stunted.

For years the state's highway construction needs alone have been much greater than the amount of money available, and the gap only continues to grow. North Carolina has one of the highest gasoline taxes in the nation, a mechanism that has long been one of the major funding sources for roads and fund other transportation-related projects.

But the revenue pool hasn't grown in proportion to the needs, thanks in part to more fuel-efficient cars and a reduction in driving during the recent recession. State lawmakers have long known that North Carolina must find other ways to pay for construction, maintenance and upgrades of the state's sizable transportation network, but they have yet to act.

It's time they do. The Cape Fear region could play a key role. New state Sen. Michael Lee, R-New Hanover, has served on the state transportation board, while Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, has held a leadership role in setting the transportation budget. The rest of the delegation is well aware how rapid growth strains existing transportation networks – and all of them have likely heard from frustrated drivers who spend more time than they should in snarled traffic.

But Congress has a role to play, too. A two-year continuing resolution may keep federal funds trickling in for big-ticket projects, such as the impending widening of Kerr Avenue and improvements to intersections at Market Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, but Washington has yet to approve a longer-range plan to at least put a Band-Aid on a crumbling national infrastructure.

Like North Carolina, the federal government is grappling with a conflict between low-tax priorities of many Americans and the need to raise more money to address public needs. The federal gas tax has not been increased since 1993, while North Carolina's current 37.5-cent tax, among the nation's highest, is under constant attack from those who want less government spending.

What, then, is the solution? Wilmington residents found the need to be great enough to vote to tax themselves for a variety of improvements, and not only to roadways. But that will only make a dent in the expansive and ever-growing needs. Some state lawmakers would push responsibility for secondary road maintenance to counties – another unfunded mandate.

North Carolina lawmakers have a responsibility to state residents to find the answer and convince the taxpayers that this investment must be made now. But first, they have to convince themselves.

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