Voters could decide on tax for traffic relief

Triangle mayors and legislators are lining up behind legislation to tackle urban traffic congestion, start building the state's first modern toll roads and find money for better bus service and a rail transit network.

Sen. Richard Stevens, a Cary Republican, is sponsoring a bill to set up a statewide fund for urban transit and congestion relief. House sponsors include Democratic Reps. Deborah Ross of Raleigh and Lucy Allen of Louisburg. Other Triangle legislators are co-sponsors.

The measure would allow Triangle voters to consider implementing a half-cent sales tax dedicated to public transit. Proceeds from the tax -- a nickel on every $10 purchase -- could cover more than half the cost of a 27-year, $8.2 billion rail-bus plan proposed recently by a three-county citizen advisory panel.

"It's something for the public to decide," Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker said. "With increasingly high gas prices, the idea of having additional bus service and rail service for the future makes a good deal of sense for our area.

"In terms of our competition, Charlotte has moved ahead on regional transit, and we in the Triangle are far behind. It will affect our economic development over time."

Meeker and the mayors of Durham, Cary and Chapel Hill called on the legislature to approve the local sales tax option and other recommendations from the statewide 21st Century Transportation Commission. Stevens is a member of the commission.

"I'm a strong advocate for building and maintaining roads, but also looking for alternatives," Stevens said Wednesday. He said he hoped Republican and Democratic legislators would agree to let Triangle voters consider the transit tax.

"We're asking citizens to decide," Stevens said. "If they don't want to be taxed, we don't do it. If they do, let's move ahead."

The legislation also would increase transportation spending by ending the yearly transfer of $172 million from the Highway Trust Fund to the state's General Fund, where it is used for nontransportation purposes.

The 21st Century panel said the change would provide seed money to start construction on the Triangle Expressway, an 18-mile toll road proposed for Research Triangle Park and western Wake County. House Democratic leaders said Wednesday that their priorities for this year included startup money for the state's first toll projects.

The money also could underwrite a statewide transportation bond issue of more than $1 billion.

Some of the bill's sponsors said they could not predict whether the legislature this year will authorize a local transit tax vote or approve new state transit money.

"I don't think people expect every single one of these proposals is going to be passed in the next six weeks," Ross said. "But I think it's important we start having a framework for thinking about urban transit issues, and this bill provides that."