RALEIGH — There were reports out of the North Carolina General Assembly Wednesday that Gov. Mike Easley was gaining support for his proposal to redirect $700 million of bonding authority attached to the Highway Trust Fund, created back in 1989 to finance an ambitious road-improvement program.

The Associated Press reported that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were coalescing behind the governor’s proposal, called “N.C. Moving Ahead.” Most members seemed interested primarily in lobbying to ensure that their home counties got “their fair share” of the resulting dollars, rather than questioning the broader notion of taking hundreds of millions of dollars of additional taxes paid by highway users to help finance mass transit projects they won’t likely use.

The legislature is drifting way off course, here. The TIP has its flaws — and my colleagues at the John Locke Foundation have been among the most vocal advocates for mid-course correction — but it did have a clear intent and promised drivers that their highest costs would result in better and less congested roadways. Already, their tax money is transferred to the General Fund and used for a variety of non-transportation purposes. Tens of millions of additional gas tax revenues under the regular Highway Fund are also diverted to bus, rail, bicycle, and airport operations that, unlike highways, do not generate fees from users sufficient to cover their cost.

Now Easley proposes to make the situation worse, further delaying needed highway projects in both urban and rural areas. Yes, we need to take action to invest adequately in maintenance of our roads and bridges. But there are better ways of finding the necessary funds than this. Nor should lawmakers try to divvy up the money based on politics. Traffic needs should dictate the spending allocations. Everyone will benefit when North Carolina’s most serious transportation snarls — and let’s be honest, they are disproportionately in urban and suburban counties — are alleviated.

Doesn’t anyone remember all that “One North Carolina” rhetoric? Since when does this mean “give me mine, and enjoy your traffic jam”?

Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation and publisher of Carolina Journal.