Highways and interstates
The "good roads" state is quickly turning into the
"traffic congestion" state. While North Carolina ranks third
among the 50 states in the amount of money spent per
mile of roads, it seems that the money is not spent well.
Our rural and urban interstates are poorly maintained and
congested (see Figure 1 below).
One reason for the deterioration of the state's roads
is that the General Assembly has not dedicated all highway-related
revenues to highway construction and maintenance.
Since 1990, a total of nearly $4 billion in proceeds from gas
and car taxes have been spent on transit or General Fund
programs (see Figure 2 below). While most of this transfer was
originally intended to offset tax changes in the 1989 transportation
bill, it is long past time that all gas and car taxes
be dedicated to highway investment.
The legislature has ignored the politicized decision-making process at the Board of Transportation, which continues
to misallocate road building funds based on political
logrolling, not documented transportation needs.
The General Assembly continues to allow the overfunding
of public transit at the expense of roads. These
failures have all contributed to a deteriorating road system.
The legislature must restore public confidence by spending
highway user fees on highways, not on politicians' pet
projects.
Key points
- While North Carolina's highway system ranks 20th
of 50 states in overall performance, it ranks 46th in
urban interstate congestion (Figure 1 below).
- The state's low urban interstate congestion ranking is
the worst among its competitor states in the Southeast
(Figure 3 below).
Of 17 municipal public transit systems in N.C., only
five carry more than 1 percent of the commuters,
and only three carry more than 2 percent.
- Nevertheless, those systems receive a disproportionate
share of the transportation funds. Public transit's
share of transportation funds in Charlotte is 57.5%; in
Raleigh, 27.5%; and in Durham, 50.7% (Figure 5 below).
- The state's highway needs are estimated at $50 billion
to $70 billion over 25 years.
- North Carolina's gasoline tax of 30.2 cents per gallon
is the second highest in the Southeast (behind only
Florida's) and the 16th highest among the 50 states.
It is nearly 10 cents higher than those of five other
Southeastern states (Figure 4).
- Since 1990 the General Assembly has ignored the
dismal road conditions and diverted about $4 billion
from the Highway Trust Fund to the General Fund
(Figure 2).
- Spending $8.2 billion in federal, state and local funds
on rail transit in the Triangle that will carry only about
one percent of the traveling public is a poor investment
(see the "Public Transit" section).
Recommendations
- Stop transferring funds from the Highway Trust
Fund to the General Fund. Ending the transfer
would add hundreds of millions of dollars a year to
the state's investment in highway construction and
maintenance.
- Change the state's highway formulas that currently
favor sparsely populated rural areas so that they
provide relief to the congestion-plagued cities. In
other words, highway funds should be distributed
based on documented transportation needs, not political
horse-trading.
- Restructure the Department of Transportation by
reducing and merging departments.
- Increase the use of competitive contracting for
design and planning functions.
- Downsize the Board of Transportation and make it
an advisory panel only.
- End the disproportionate funding of mass transit.
Transportation funding should be based on the way
people actually travel, not on transit planners' attempts
to use transit to reshape cities.
- End state funding of rail systems in the Triangle and
the Triad and repeal local-option sales tax authorization
for rail transit (see the previous section on "Public
Transit" for more details).
Analyst: Dr. Michael Sanera
Director of Research and Local Government Studies
919-828-3876 • msanera@johnlocke.org
