Civitas Review Online

Late last Friday, the NC Department of Transportation released a new report that represents a major step forward for the department — they are now using a “data-driven approach is being used to score projects across the state” as opposed to its previous scoring system relying on political favor and cronyism for transportation projects.

This scoring system and a common-sense prioritization of transportation projects is one that Civitas and others have been recommending for years.

According to the report:

each project is classified under one of the Department’s three primary goals (Safety, Mobility, Infrastructure Health) and three tiers (Statewide, Regional, and Subregional). Projects classified as Infrastructure Health were further classified by Submode (Interstate Pavement, Modernization, and Highway Miscellaneous).

If you dig deeper into the rankings and pay particular attention to the rankings under “Mobility” (page 57) a distinct conclusion can be drawn — the Charlotte area has been neglected.  8 of the top 10 highest scoring projects are in the Charlotte/I-85 corridor.

The key here will be to see if NCDOT actually sticks to this ranking system and makes decisions based on this or will we see political pressures creep back into the system.  I’m guardedly optimistic that road building in the state may have finally turned a corner.

In what has to be seen as a somewhat bizarre and highly questionable decision, the NC DOT has decided to continue with its plans to expand a Winston-Salem road that leads to the soon to be empty Dell manufacturing plant.  From today’s W-S Journal:

Even though Dell said earlier this month that it will close the plant early next year, DOT officials say they are moving ahead with the Union Cross Road plans. They say that present and future traffic needs justify the expense.

The cost to widen the road?  $53 million.

Oh and the traffic counts the DOT is basing the need for widening on, they were done at the height of Dell’s employment and use of the road in 2007.

So is this the “critical needs” that the General Assembly used to justify raising the gas tax by 2 cents per gallon on July 1?  I sure hope not.