For the first time in 14 years, the General Assembly has added to the number of the projects to be paid for through the Highway Trust Fund.

In 1989, the state increased the gasoline tax and fees to fund road construction. The additional tax revenues went to the newly created Highway Trust Fund. One-fourth of trust fund spending would go toward building urban loops. The extra taxes end when all urban loop and intrastate projects are completed.
The legislature also designated at the time urban loops and interstate routes to be built with trust fund dollars. The urban loop projects were:

• A 3.5-mile connector between Interstate 26 and U.S. 19-23-70 in Asheville. Existing roads would also be upgraded to current interstate standards.

• The 25-mile Northern Beltway in Winston-Salem.

• The entire 64-mile Charlotte Outer Belt (Interstate 485).

• A 39-mile portion of Raleigh’s outer loop (I-540) from N.C. 55 southwest of Cary north and east to U.S. 64 in eastern Wake County. The remaining 31 miles of the loop were not listed as eligible for urban loop funding.

• A 42-mile beltway around Greensboro.

• A 20-mile bypass around Wilmington.

• The 16-mile Northwest and Northeast loop projects in Durham.

Progress on the projects has been mixed. The most advanced urban loop is I-485. The Charlotte outer belt will be 70 percent complete by the spring with all remaining work funded. The $1.15 billion project should be completed in about 2010.

Raleigh’s outer loop will extend from I-40 to U.S. 64 near Knightdale by 2006, with work on the remaining 10 funded miles scheduled to begin by 2008. Greensboro’s loop also is advancing, with one-third of it scheduled for completion by the end of this year. Most of the remaining portions are scheduled to begin work by 2010. The total cost of the road is more than $1 billion.

The situation is more mixed in Wilmington. Work on the north portion of the road has begun or will begin shortly. The southern half of the road, between U.S. 421 and U.S. 17 south of Wilmington, presents environmental challenges. The Department of Transportation hopes to begin work in 2009, though the timetable could be pushed back.

Community opposition and environmental concerns have severely delayed the Asheville, Durham, and Winston-Salem loops. Fourteen years after the creation of the trust fund, construction has not begun on the three roads.

In Winston-Salem, a lawsuit has forced the state to conduct a new environmental impact study. Construction may begin on a portion of the road in 2006.

The DOT hopes to begin work on the $270 million Asheville connector in 2008.

Opposition in Durham

While the Winston-Salem and Asheville projects have been delayed, they at least generally enjoy the support of local government. Such was not the case for the northern loop in Durham. Both the city and county of Durham opposed the state’s proposal.

After negotiations, the state and Durham came to an agreement on an alternative routing. It includes upgrading existing roads, including some streets that will not be brought up to interstate quality. The original trust fund provision for Durham, however, specified that money would be available only for building new roads.

To allow the work to proceed, Sens. Wib Gulley, D-Durham, and Jeanne Lucas, D-Durham, offered a technical amendment to allow for urban loop money to use for the revised project. Sensing an opportunity, a number of other legislators introduced amendments making other projects eligible for urban loop funding.

The largest addition was a $350 million, 28-mile portion of the Fayetteville loop. Funding was included at the request of Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, D-Cumberland.

“We have now righted what I’ve always considered to be a wrong, and I’m delighted that we got it done,” Rand said to the Fayetteville Observer.

While portions of the Fayetteville loop were all scheduled to be built with non-trust fund money, the shift is favorable to Cumberland County. Trust fund spending counts against how much money a region receives through regular DOT programs. By shifting the road to the trust fund, Fayetteville will effectively receive more state road money.

The Greenville Southwest Bypass was also designated as an urban loop road. While the DOT’s transportation timetable already included funds for right-of-way purchases in 2006 and 2007, through 2010 no funding was provided for actual construction. The total cost of the project is $115 million.

Additional interchanges, bridges, or miles of highway were also added to the Raleigh, Greensboro, Wilmington, and Winston-Salem loop projects.

Lowrey is a Charlotte-based associate editor at Carolina Journal.