State puts cash behind toll roads
Published: Thu, Jul. 10, 2008 12:30AM
Modified Thu, Jul. 10, 2008 05:22AM
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closeA long-term spending plan included in the new state budget will give the N.C. Turnpike Authority $25 million this year and, by 2010, $99 million a year to start building three toll roads in central North Carolina and a toll bridge on the northern coast.
"It's really positive news for these projects," said David W. Joyner, the turnpike agency's executive director.
The first installment of $25 million, starting this year, will help clear the way for construction to start in December on the 18-mile Triangle Expressway, a $967 million project in Research Triangle Park and western Wake County. Traffic could start moving on parts of the TriEx by the end of 2010.
FILLING THE TOLL GAP
Projections for traffic counts and toll collections show that the N.C. Turnpike Authority won't collect enough money from drivers to cover the cost of building, operating and maintaining its planned toll projects over the next 40 years.
The new state budget includes a plan to cover the toll gaps for the first four planned toll projects. Over three years, it phases in a $99 million-per-year payment to augment toll collections for its four projects:
* Triangle Expressway, 18 miles in Wake County and Research Triangle Park. Total cost: $967 million. Gap funding: $25 million each year, starting this year.
* Monroe Connector/Bypass, 21 miles in Union County. Cost: $757 million. Gap funding: $24 million a year, starting fiscal year 2009-10.
* Mid-Currituck Bridge, 7 miles over Currituck Sound. Cost: $636 million. Gap funding: $15 million a year, starting fiscal year 2009-10.
* Garden Parkway, 15 miles in Gaston and Mecklenburg counties. Cost: $765 million. Gap funding: $35 million a year, starting fiscal year 2010-11.
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Over the next two years, the financing grows in order to begin building toll roads in Union and Gaston counties and a toll bridge across Currituck Sound.
Legislators were asked to cover projected gaps between toll collections and the cost of building and maintaining the state's first modern toll projects.
They found the money by diverting part of a $172 million yearly transfer from the Highway Trust Fund to the General Fund, where the money has been spent in the past for non-transportation purposes. Transportation advocates have argued in recent years that the money -- collected mostly from fuel taxes and automobile sales -- should be used only for roads.
The legislature decided to reduce the transfer to the General Fund and to gradually increase the turnpike subsidy over three years.
"This sends a message from legislators, to the people we've got to do our financing with, that they're serious," Joyner said.
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