In for a tune-up

A new state panel should examine how transportation money is spent and how a rickety system should be overhauled

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Yesterday's editorial on the new state transportation committee erred in saying the panel will have only three women members. A fourth, Mayor Terry Bellamy of Asheville, is an appointee of Gov. Mike Easley.

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For too long the former Good Roads State has been anything but. Tar Heel travelers too often encounter delays and/or deteriorating roadways and bridges. Mass transit falls far below its potential. Alternatives to driving, such as bicycle commuting, are barely addressed. Cost estimates of fulfilling transportation needs are daunting.

Although many road projects are completed efficiently, snafus such as the twice-repaved section of Interstate 40 near Durham and Chapel Hill have come to symbolize Department of Transportation ineptness. There's a widespread feeling that the job isn't getting done, and that the road crew needs reshuffling.

Then there's money. The DOT spends billions each year on highway construction and repairs, and no wonder. Due to a Depression-era takeover of county road maintenance by the legislature, North Carolina ranks second only to Texas in miles of state-maintained roads.

Major interstate arteries must be kept in shape to accommodate long-haul traffic. Add rapidly rising expenses to the mix -- officials rightly note that asphalt, concrete and steel prices have gone up much faster than the revenues to pay for them -- and it's a formula for frustration in one of the nation's fastest-growing, hardest-driving states.

From all quarters the pressure is on to find a better system, especially after the General Assembly this year failed to tackle the overriding transportation issues.

So yesterday's announcement of a 21st Century Transportation Committee is a welcome step -- if the committee lives up to its billing. Governor Easley, Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight and House Speaker Joe Hackney named "elected officials, transportation and engineering experts, business leaders and citizens" to the 24-member panel. It will make a preliminary report to the legislature by May 1 and wrap up its work by the end of next year.

Judging by the list of members, heavy on transportation traditionalists, it's not clear that this is a group intended to shake up the system. It includes two members of the state Board of Transportation (plus a former DOT secretary), Democratic campaign contributors (some of whom turn up on state board after board), and businessmen. Astonishingly, there are only three women, all chosen by Hackney.

With such a large roster, this well-traveled committee may in fact be too big to produce a coherent study. Still, if it's to do its job, it will have to face some knotty issues head-on:

* The politically unpopular but historically justifiable transfer of over $100 million each year from the Highway Trust Fund to the state's General Fund.

* Replacements for the Bonner Bridge over Oregon Inlet on the Outer Banks and the equally important Interstate 85 bridge over the Yadkin River near Salisbury. The two huge bridge projects threaten to gobble up large chunks of the construction budget, while other bridges are overdue for updating. State officials need definitive guidance on projects and priorities.

* The cap on the state gasoline tax that Easley put in place in 2006. The governor's move, made under political pressure, capped the tax at 29.9 cents per gallon, instead of allowing it to rise with fuel prices. The cap holds down pump prices (some) but hamstrings the prime source of transportation funding.

* Mass transit (by rail and bus) -- is North Carolina really serious about this, or will everybody have to drive?

* Finding the right balance for allocating funds between rural counties (many lacking in the good-roads basics) and burgeoning urban areas such as the Triangle, which face stunning traffic congestion.

* Toll roads -- after decades of being toll-free the state has authorized their use, but so far none has gotten started. In fact it was last-minute dithering by legislators over money for the planned Triangle Expressway in western Wake County that led to the special transportation committee.

With the 21st century well under way, this committee's time has certainly arrived. Its chairman, former UNC Board of Governors chair Brad Wilson, and his colleagues must proves themselves thoughtful, creative and independent. They need to find efficiencies and set priorities, and to summon the will to get Tar Heel transportation into high gear.