State $65 billion short on road needs

Just two years ago, the gap between North Carolina's long-range transportation needs and the money to pay for them was pegged at $29 billion. The new estimate, delivered Wednesday, is $65 billion.

North Carolina is expected to swell from 8.7 million residents to 12 million by 2030, with traffic flows growing two or three times as fast. That could mean more rush-hour jams for commuters and more demand for bus service among the poor and elderly.

"We need to review options for how we are going to address this $65 billion gap," Susan Coward, a deputy transportation secretary, told the state Board of Transportation. "We all know it affects our mobility, economic development and the quality of life."

North Carolina can count on $57 billion in gas taxes and other state and federal transportation revenues over the next 25 years -- but it will take more than twice that to pay for transportation needs now pegged at $122 billion, she said.

As the state tries to build roads and keep old ones in shape, the cost of each mile is rising faster than inflation. The price of a new bridge has risen 44 percent in five years.

Taxes on car sales are increasing only slightly. As cars go farther on each gallon, gas-tax collections rise more slowly than traffic.

Lanny Wilson of Wilmington, a board member, said local governments must take a bigger role for the state to work its way out of congestion.