When the General Assembly passed the $21 Billion budget recently, they largely ignored the state’s transportation needs. While they were able to find plenty of money to fund new and expanding corporate welfare and health insurance for children in families of four whose income exceeds $61,000 a year, they actually cut funding for urban road maintenance by $41 Million and cut spending from the Highway Trust Fund by $6.5 Million.
According to a recent analysis of the National Bridge Inventory on MSNBC.com , almost 30% of North Carolina’s bridges are either structurally deficent or functionally obsolete.
A
structurally deficient bridge is closed or restricted to light vehicles
because of its deteriorated structural components. While not
necessarily unsafe, these bridges must have limits for speed and
weight.
A
functionally obsolete bridge has older design features and, while it is
not unsafe for all vehicles, it cannot safely accommodate current
traffic volumes, and vehicle sizes and weights.
When all the dust has settled and the accomplishments and failures of the 2007 session have been fully discussed and analyzed, ignoring the state’s transportation needs may very well be the biggest and most dangerous action taken by the General Assembly.
Becki Gray
Director, State Policy Resource Center
