Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee Nov. 17th, 2009
Highlights
- NCDOT presented on North Carolina’s population growth, shrinking transportation revenues, and growing transportation infrastructure needs. They noted there are twice as many projects in the State Transportation Improvement Program than funds available over the next five years. They said the problem is not NCDOT’s alone, but a problem for the nation, state, counties, cities/towns, and communities.
- Updated the Committee on Executive Order #2 requiring NCDOT to change how they approve highway projects. BOT will approve a work program as a whole rather than approving individual projects.
- I-485 Update
- Interstate Maintenance – NCDOT advocated for saving money in the long run by investing in preserving Interstates. They are allocating $10 million to the effort and plan to increase it to $15 million or more in the future.
- Bridges – NCDOT maintains 13,000 bridges and is 10th in the nation with respect to most deficient bridges. 8,000 need to be replaced in the next 20 years. NCDOT is currently replacing 100 per year. They are working to develop and include maintenance, preservation and rehabilitation strategies in the bridge program, streamline the program to deliver bridges quicker and cheaper, and develop bridge replacement standards for the sub-regional tier.
- Revenues – NCDOT said we must develop new long range progrmas and resources in cooperation with all levels of government and transportation groups to achieve consensus and cooperation in moving our 21st Century state to a resionably resourced transprotation program instead of modal and regional fights over the allocation of an under resourced 20th Century transportation model.
