Recently, North Carolina’s law and policy establishments have been up in arms over the issue whether it’s lawful or appropriate to let a private road builder partially fund the last section of the I-485 loop in Charlotte. Lost, however, in this worthwhile discussion is an even larger and more important reality that underlies it: our transportation finance system is failing us and the legislative mechanism by which money is allocated to projects badly needs repair. [Continue Reading...]

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) network television advertisements on the “cap and trade” legislation that passed the House and that is now under Senate consideration (the American Clean Energy and Security Act or ACES) touches a raw voter nerve in these uncertain times. The misleading ads dub the cap and trade proposals as an energy tax – one that supposedly can’t be afforded in a recession. [Continue Reading...]

No issue provides more striking evidence of the failure of North Carolina’s education system to serve our children than the “achievement gap.” By “achievement gap,” I refer, of course to that persistent gap in average scores on state and federal tests between students of color and white children and between children from low-income households and those from wealthier ones at every level of elementary, middle and high school. [Continue Reading...]

News that federal stimulus package could provide North Carolina with as much as $890 million to spend on transportation (including $800 million on highways) is getting a deservedly mixed reception. Though revenues for the state’s transportation budget have slowed to a trickle, this one-time injection of funds seems to be both too much and too little to cure the state’s surface transportation ills.
Confused? [Continue Reading...]

The message from Department of Transportation bureaucrats and elected officials deep in the transportation policy game has been the same for some time now – “send more money.” With a prominent study groups known as the 21st Century Transportation Study Committee set to recommend the same next month, the message demands closer scrutiny. [Continue Reading...]

We are faced with a fundamental challenge: How can we move to a low greenhouse gas emission economy that will stave off environmental catastrophe in a way that does not increase the ranks of the poor or make things worse for those already there? And how can the shift be made fairly, without creating winners and losers from the process? The path chosen to the new greener economy will have profound implications for North Carolina. [Continue Reading...]

There has been a great deal of conjecture and discussion in the press and at the state Legislative Building about a bond proposal for road construction being put to voters this November. [Continue Reading...]

Gas prices are projected to rise to $3.50 a gallon this summer. The need for alternative transportation options, beyond the standard response for more roads, has never been more apparent. [Continue Reading...]