At-large DOT officials exhibit bias

Like other parts of the state, rural Graham County has its share of cracking, patched roads. Officials there have long sought to finish two highway projects that would boost tourism and provide easier access to neighboring Tennessee and the rest of North Carolina.

County Manager Lynn Cody said the usual response from state transportation officials for many of the mountainous county's needs is to propose yet another study or to wait until problems in cities such as Charlotte and Raleigh get fixed.

It's the kind of situation legislators sought to address in 1998 when they created an at-large seat on the state Board of Transportation dedicated to rural issues. But Cody said he's not familiar with a board member who has been tasked with that job since 2001 -- Louis Sewell of Jacksonville.

"I've not heard of him," Cody said. "I don't think I've ever met him, either."

DOT records of two funds over the past four years show that Sewell has recommended spending that money only in his corner of the state. Even then, most of the projects are in his home county. Sewell has pushed or recommended $2.1 million worth of projects in Onslow County. The majority of those projects were in and around Jacksonville, a city of nearly 70,000.

Sewell's recommendations are in line with how transportation board members have traditionally operated -- looking out for the transportation needs of the districts they represent.

A decade ago, the legislature created five at-large seats, in addition to seats representing 14 geographic divisions, to ensure that someone on the board was thinking about the big picture. The at-large members are to "develop transportation policy and address transportation problems with a statewide perspective," according to the law.

But records and interviews show that one former and two current at-large board members saw themselves as an additional representative for the highway division in which they reside.

Board members and state officials say spending records of relatively small funds don't show the effort the at-large members put into statewide concerns. Sewell, for example, speaks up about rural roads that are heavy with traffic and prone to accidents, Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett said in an interview. Sewell also serves on a committee on U.S. 17, a north-south highway that connects many rural towns and communities in Eastern North Carolina, including Jacksonville.

Another at-large member, Cameron McRae of Kinston, who was appointed to represent ports and aviation, played a role in ensuring that those interests were a component of a plan to guide the department for the next 25 years.

How the board works

Board members can recommend spending for two funds, one for small construction projects and another for economic development. Four year's worth of spending requests show that whenever Sewell, McRae and former board member Larry Helms of Union County weighed in on a project that was eventually approved, it was in the highway divisions in which they live.

The board members have no ability to get extra money for their hometowns or counties because the legislature spreads the discretionary funds equally across the state. And a board member's recommendation must still pass review by experts, engineers and the board.

But board members can set priorities and push projects forward.

The discretionary funds that board members can direct represent a small fraction -- less than 1 percent -- of the transportation department's $3.9 billion budget. The three at-large board members have recommended more than $10 million worth of projects since July 2004. They recommended building turn lanes at crash-prone intersections, creating access roads at industrial parks, improving drainage for flood-prone roads and installing flashing signals at school entrances.