The NC FIRST commission spent 16 months studying the state’s transportation situation, and found that the funding structure could lead to project delays through to 2050. | Stock Photo at Getty Images
The NC FIRST commission spent 16 months studying the state’s transportation situation, and found that the funding structure could lead to project delays through to 2050. | Stock Photo at Getty Images
The conclusion of a 16-month study by the NC FIRST Commission is that North Carolina's funding model for transportation could bring project delays for the next three decades.
The state derives approximately 54% of transportation funding from fuel tax, 25% form the state Division of Motor Vehicles and 21% from the highway use tax, as reported by The Center Square. Yet, the 3% highway-use tax has not risen since the 1980s and lags behind most neighboring states.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation's "... 10-year construction program has a capital project backlog of nearly $50 billion," Ward Nye, co-chair of the NC FIRST commission, told the North Carolina House Select Committee on Finding Strategic Transportation Planning and Long Term Funding Solutions, as reported by The Center Square. "Based on that, and our existing revenues, it will take until 2050 to fund these projects which have been identified by local governments as an immediate need."
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