Transportation Funding

Kestrel · Transportation Funding

This is kind of old news, but what are we to do about transportation funding? Recently, the NCDOT said that somewhere around $167 billion would been needed over the next 25 years, but they expect to only get $62 billion in funding (less than 50%!). Also the gas tax was capped after the "stop the gas tax hike" campaign. Leaders in Raleigh are complaining that they need more transportation funding and that they don't get their fair share. Over $2 billion is needed to upgrade I-95 in North Carolina, which will need a total of four lanes in each direction within 20 years.

If you add the current state and federal gas taxes together, it comes to 48.55 cents per gallon (I might be a cent or two off). Yeah, that sounds like a lot, but lets break it down. If your car gets 25 miles per gallon, then you are paying 2 cents per mile to drive on the road. If you get 17 miles per gallon, you are paying 3 cents per mile to drive on the road. Most folks drive a car about 15k miles a year, so they pay about $300-450 a year in gas tax. To put this in perspective, most folks pay more than that just for insurance on the car. I personally pay about $450 for insurance. The cost to drive your car a mile (car, repairs, gas, insurance, etc) is probably 30-50 cents a mile. The federal government allows about 48 cents per mile for tax deductions. This means that of what you spend to drive a mile, only 5-10% goes to actually building and maintaining the road.

And people don't know how much it cost to build and maintain roads. A limited access highway like I-95 cost about $15-50 million a mile, depending on interchanges, bridges, width, terrain, etc. A new two lane road can cost several million a mile. To resurface a two lane highway costs about $70-110 thousand per mile. All around the country, transportation budgets are suffering. Right now, most people appear to be hoping that the problem will go away, but it isn't.

Folks like to compare our gasoline tax to neighboring states, but Virginia actually gets much of its transportation funding from its general fund (income and sales taxes). North Carolina only uses the gas tax and other fees on vehicles.

Sure Raleigh has traffic needs, but so do we. I-95 needs to be widened. So does US 158. US 64 to the beach has not been completed. I think the funding formula for dividing the funds is fine, its just that there isn't enough funding. Some have considered tolls. I think tolls could be useful for large point projects, like a bridge similar to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, but our whole transportation system is suffering from a lack of funding. And tolls add overhead. I remember an American Society of Civil Engineers article which said that most tolls for new highways are about 10-25 cents a mile.

Personally I think the gas tax should be doubled in the next 5 years. This would only increase the cost of driving a mile from 30-50 cents to 32-53 cents, about a 5-10% increase. But this would do wonders to our infrastructure. Suspending or capping the gas tax is doing nothing but increasing our transportation problems.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1073607/
http://www.wral.com/traffic/story/1173201/
http://www.ncgo.org/elements/PDF/...ting/NC-Go-Annual-Mtg-Remarks.pdf
http://www.stopthegastaxhike.com/

sweetlaskergirl

The roads in N.C. are much better than the roads in Va. are, especially Va. Beach. So many pot holes, they do a quick patch job, and in 3-4 days, it is back. The volume of traffic we have here is hard on the roads, and with tourist season starting, oh boy.....it'll get worse!!!! Sad

Cap'n Slappy

I'm all for the toll roads on I95.

Kestrel

I not too keen about tolls on I-95. I've heard mention of $5 being charged at the border. If this is true, then folks who cross the border every workday will be looking at paying about $1,300 for the year. Probably locals will try to go up US 301 or some alternative route, which is 2-4x as deadly.

THE CURE

I think the locals will find a way around it too and I know if I was traveling on vacation a toll wouldn't stop me from taking 95.

Nighthawk

But the toll idea is bad because your going to have 125 terribly clogged up between RR/Weldon/Garysburg to Emporia. I bet a lot more fatalities will result from this.

slash

The locals would use those roads but I don't think someone driving from NY to Fl is going to get off and try to bypass the tolls.

Kestrel

Currently, I-95 has about 40,000 vehicles crossing the VA-NC border every day. I think that probably up to a fifth of them will seek other routes, which would mean 8,000 more cars on NC 48 and US 301, bypassing the toll.

Using the crash rates on the NCDOT website, and 5 miles as the length of the detour, about 1 more person will die every 4 years. And about 6 more people will be injured every year.

Cap'n Slappy

I think that 8000 might be a little high but I guess it would depend on how much the toll was.

MollysDad

Kestrel

slash

I found this article interesting. The proposal is talking about 4 additional lanes on I95 that would be the toll road and the current lanes would remain toll free. I wonder where these lanes are going to be built. Are they talking about some kind of bypass like they have around Petersburg and Richmond? I wonder is that going to bypass Carolina Crossroads? That would be a kick in the teeth wouldn't it? http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=256553

Kestrel