The News & Observer reported when governor-elect Pat McCrory was Charlotte’s mayor, he helped implement a 25-year plan that set priorities for transit investment to guide the city’s growth. Now the governor-elect says North Carolina needs a 25-year transportation and infrastructure plan “to send a clear signal to the business community of the state’s future investment in roads, railroads, bridges, ports, airports and other infrastructure.”
People in and out of government in Raleigh have been thinking along similar lines over the past couple of years.
“We’ve done a lot of work, and we’re happy to share that with the new governor,” said Gene Conti, who has served as Perdue’s transportation secretary since 2009. “And what he does with that is up to him. There’s a lot of stuff out there, and we’re certainly sharing it with his transition team.”
A business-government logistics task force, chaired by Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, spent two years meeting in communities across North Carolina to assess the state’s long-term economic, mobility and infrastructure needs, and it reported its findings in June. Recommendations included further looks at developing inland ports and investing in improvements to the Morehead City and Wilmington ports.
The state Board of Transportation updated its own long-range look this year with a 2040 Statewide Transportation Plan, based on a survey of expected needs and priorities from residents and local governments. The plan predicts that the state will need $94 billion over the next three decades to maintain the transportation system we have now, and $130 billion to build a better system. But the state can count on only $54 billion in state and federal transportation funds during the same period. Read More