Gov. Pat McCrory has signaled his interest in rethinking North Carolina state government’s transportation priorities. A new report released this morning aims to give McCrory and other N.C. policymakers some helpful ideas as they pursue that goal.

RALEIGH — A revamped North Carolina transportation program should include merit-based project selection, an increased emphasis on road maintenance, and a funding solution for Interstate 95. Those are among the 20 immediate recommendations set out in a new Policy Report prepared for the John Locke Foundation.

The report’s authors note their recommendations would require no new revenue. “In total the 20 recommendations would save about $21 million annually and would substantially realign and refocus the transportation program on needed and affordable activities,” said lead author Dr. David Hartgen, professor emeritus of transportation studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and president of the Hartgen Group.

The Hartgen Group and the Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation, a libertarian good-government think tank, developed the report as new North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has signaled his interest in a major revision of the state’s transportation priorities. Hartgen and his co-authors sifted through 157 policy ideas from prior studies, plans, legislation, other states’ best practices, and suggestions from interest groups. …

… The 20 items listed for immediate action fall into three categories. The first category features six recommendations targeting “major changes,” Hartgen said. “These would increase maintenance and concentrate expansions on projects with statewide significance,” he said. “A key step is to constrain the four- to five-year State Transportation Improvement Program by merit-based project selection, then shifting some of the savings to maintenance, major projects, and rural safety.” …

… The second category features four items “intended to increase economic productivity and strengthen maintenance management and project selection, through head-to-head project evaluation, adding maintenance needs to funding formulas, and contracting out light maintenance,” Hartgen said. …

… A third category features 10 lower-cost recommendations intended to strengthen long-range planning, Hartgen said. “This group of recommendations would refresh the state’s vision for transportation, prepare an updated long-range plan, and improve communications,” he said. “Organizational efficiency is also addressed through increased design-build flexibility and strengthened measures of performance and project delivery. With full implementation, these recommendations would save more than $1 million a year.”