news-record.com

Can you drive from Murphy to Manteo on a half-tank of gas? The state’s new 21st Century Transportation Committee faces that kind of challenge.

It was formed in response to the Minneapolis bridge collapse in August. Thousands of state-maintained bridges in North Carolina are rated as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, but only a relative handful are budgeted for replacement.

When a bridge fails, the result may be catastrophic. Deteriorating highways cause problems, too, although usually not in ways that make the news. And when new road projects are delayed or canceled, the result is less apparent but just as real, often in the form of traffic congestion that gets a little worse every day.

The committee needs to take a fresh look at transportation policies and priorities. Is it important to speed up bridge replacement and maintenance of existing highways? Undoubtedly. So, where will the resources come from, particularly since it’s also important to complete important new projects like Greensboro’s Urban Loop?

The largest source of funding, the gasoline tax, has been capped because of the strain rising fuel prices put on motorists. The committee should decide how much emphasis the state should place on toll projects and alternative revenue sources.

It also should look for opportunities to save money. The legislature’s Fiscal Research Division staff issued a report in March recommending a decreased emphasis on the Secondary Roads Program, which receives about $170 million a year. The principal goal of that program, surfacing unpaved roads, has made much progress. It’s costing $250,000 per mile to continue. That money could be spent more productively for improving the state’s network of major highways.

The committee also should pull politics out of transportation discussions. Every legislator and transportation board member wants to see to it that a "fair share" of highway funding goes to his or her part of the state, but those decisions should be made objectively. Allocate highway dollars where they’re most needed to address safety issues, ease congestion and promote economic growth. Arbitrary or political goals, like building four-lane highways within 10 miles of almost every resident of North Carolina, have to yield to the practical. Public transportation, including rail, must become a larger part of the picture, too.

North Carolina has a long way to go to cover all its transportation needs, and less than a full tank of tax dollars to get there. This new committee has to find ways to get more done per dollar or we’ll face a future of traffic jams, shaky bridges and a stalled economy.