This editorial appeared in The Charlotte Observer.
When the 21st Century Transportation Committee was set up a little more than a year ago with the task of coming up with plans for how North Carolina can meet daunting challenges in every area of transportation, among its many tasks was to ponder new ways of financing transportation and to come up with innovations.
It has made a good start, rethinking the way we approach transportation. Some proposals are still in the thinking stage, such as a plan that's giving many of the state's municipalities the fits. A panel chaired by Sen. Clark Jenkins, D-Edgecombe, is looking at recommending that cities pick up responsibility for maintaining and expanding up to 5,000 miles of state roads that are within municipal borders. The idea is that the state would provide funding for the road maintenance through the N.C. Powell Bill, which helps pay for street projects, as well as establish a municipal infrastructure fund to help pay for shifting the burden to cities. Transit projects could also be eligible for the $56 million fund.
There would be obvious benefits to the state. It would relieve the state of having to maintain 5,000 miles of heavily traveled urban roads. It might benefit cities by allowing them to move quicker to meet local road needs.
Or it might be a big problem. For one thing, a lot of state roads within cities are not merely two-lane roads. Many are four or six-lane thoroughfares that move commuters back and forth between suburbs or nearby cities. Would the state provide funding simply for 5,000 center-lane miles, or 5,000 lane miles? It costs a lot more to maintain a multi-lane road.
To read the complete editorial, visit The Charlotte Observer.