On Monday the News & Observer of Raleigh carried a report that decries the state system for funding roads. It’s an argument we’ve heard before. Metro areas like Raleigh and Charlotte have long complained that they aren’t getting a fair share of road money.
Thankfully wiser heads have prevailed in years past and grasped the bigger picture. If you wanted a truly fair system perhaps you could allocate funds based purely on population. Let’s say you had $375 to spend per person per year. A county with 500,000 people would get $187.5 million. A tiny rural county like Tyrrell would get $1.5 million. Richmond County would get about $17.4 million.
It might be “fair” but it would perpetuate a two-tierd economy. The rich would get richer, the poor would get poorer. Industry would move to areas with good transportation and avoid rural areas that didn’t have it.
N.C. Department of Transportation officials emphasize that transportation spending is not about matching dollars with head counts. It’s about building a network that can move people and goods across the state.
Raleigh elected officials, choked on their own traffic, don’t buy it.
“Road projects need to be built for roads that are used a lot,” said Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker. “Building four-lane roads where there are no people doesn’t make sense.”
Well mayor, next time you want to drive to the beach you might rethink your position.
The fact is some metro areas can only blame themselves for the mess they’re in. They have allowed growth to go unchecked, and that’s caused some of the massive traffic issues they face today. The traffic problems are real. We don’t say they aren’t, but they wouldn’t be so bad has elected officials had the gumption to say ‘no’ once in a while.
For more than 20 years we’ve worked under a formula created when Jim Martin was governor. It’s goal was ensuring that nearly everyone in the state lives within 10 miles of a four-lane road or an intrastate system. The formula slices the state into seven districts and divides money among those districts. Half of the money is based on each district’s population. A quarter of the funding is determined by the miles of unfinished road in each district needed to complete the four-lane intrastate system. And the last quarter is divided equally among the districts.
The threat to smaller counties, like Richmond, is real. In years past, four-lanes have been created to improve traffic on U.S. 220, U.S. 74 and now U.S. 1. While they benefit Richmond County residents, we dare say the vast number of people who use those roads don’t live here. If North Carolina went with a formula that was purely based on population, it’s highly unlikely that any of them would have been built. The U.S. 1 widening in Richmond County will benefit Richmond County, we grant you. But when the entire project is complete, it will also link Raleigh with a direct line to South Carolina.
On April 6, a legislative transportation committee will hold a public hearing on whether the state should update the formula. We urge people to let their elected officials know how they feel. If rural areas of the state are ever going to thrive, it will take state help.
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