After two study commissions and several recommendations, are the state and the Triangle any closer to solving our transportation problems?

Only somewhat. A statewide study group and another targeting the Triangle have delved into highways and mass transit and are reporting in. Commission members have worked hard but they're up against hard problems. Unfortunately, the anemic economy and an anti-new-taxes mood have put the clamps, for now, on real solutions.

Instead, some big questions are being punted down the road. And as recommended by the statewide study group, known as the 21st Century Transportation Committee, a main source for transportation funding relies on legislative magic -- poof, $172 million wondrously appears. Also, the committee's most concrete proposal is a questionable one.

That's the call for $22 million in startup money for the proposed 18-mile Triangle Expressway toll project.

Legislative inaction on transportation issues last year, including toll road funds, spurred creation of the committee. With the state Department of Transportation in disarray, aging bridges in the safety spotlight and traffic problems backing up all over, the study took on wide scope.

Yet the statewide group's most detailed recommendation is to subsidize proposed projects of the N.C. Turnpike Authority, including the $22 million for the Triangle Expressway.

This planned roadway is basically the RTP-to-Holly Springs segment of the Outer Loop (Interstate 540). However, the injustice of forcing drivers on one past of the loop to pay for their commutes while those elsewhere on I-540 drive for free is glaring. And why should a toll road need a taxpayer subsidy?

Then there's the source of the money for turnpikes and other projects (although not mass transit). The study group wants to end, pronto, annual transfers of $172 million from the Highway Trust Fund to the General Fund.

That's a pleasant thought, but where's the money? In the absence of new General Fund revenue, the $172 million would have to come from education or other obligations of state government. Will legislators really opt to do that all at once? (Governor Easley's budget proposes a gradual end to the annual transfer, starting with $25 million.)

Meanwhile, the 21st Century group's biggest proposal, a $1 billion-plus statewide bond issue for bridges and highways (again, not transit), is up in the air. Though a vote by the public is recommended this year, the financial underpinnings appear too weak to support an adequate bond issue. It may take until 2009 -- and, it's hoped, inclusion of funds for transit projects and new sources of revenue -- to make this happen.

The statewide group did propose letting metropolitan counties help pay for mass transit projects with a half-cent local sales tax hike and higher car registration fees (if OK'd by voters).

Locally, the Triangle's Special Transit Advisory Committee is advocating such measures to build a rail and expanded bus network here, reaching into adjoining counties.

Commuters know they need some options and might well favor such a funding plan, which Charlotte's popular light rail system relies on. Yet the scope and timing of sales tax votes remain unclear.

The two commissions have done their work, but work remains to be done.