RALEIGH – There are many problems in North Carolina that make many voter angry but aren’t caused or exacerbated by government.
Traffic congestion isn’t among them. Congestion occurs on government-maintained roads. It reflects poor decisions made by government officials, who deserve whatever blame and political backlash they receive from frustrated motorists and taxpayers.
Consider the hundreds of millions of tax dollars that North Carolina is about to expend on a massive monument to utter folly: a new “high-speech” rail corridor through the Tar Heel State. The project will disrupt local businesses, create new traffic and safety concerns, and impede the freight traffic that railroads should be carrying.
Yes, it’s true that the Obama administration instigated the folly by creating an $8 billion pot of new transportation funds states could tap only by promising to build or expand passenger-rail lines. But why didn’t North Carolina’s congressional delegation get together and scream bloody murder about the inanity of being forced to squander scarce transportation on choo-choo trains when the state’s roads and bridges remain in a woeful state of disrepair?
It’s a bipartisan problem. The Democrats in the majority actually believe choo-choos are a feasible alternative to cars or flying – though probably not to flying cars, which they no doubt also believe to be feasible (Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, we love you).
As for the Republicans, too many have resigned themselves to playing the Washington game. They work only to get North Carolina’s “fair share” of the federal loot, rather than against the whole notion of federalizing anything that moves.
The truth of the matter is that the so-called high-speed trains will run at only moderate speeds, cost far more than advertised, increase traffic and air pollution, and move a scant number of passengers when compared to alternatives. They are for show, not to go.
At the same time that North Carolina prepares to blow a wad of cash on passenger rail, its budget for road maintenance is about to shrink again. Statewide, the Department of Transportation is scheduled to spend $634 million on maintenance in the coming fiscal year, compared to $639 million in 2009-10 and $667 million in 2008-09. That trendline is pointing in the wrong direction. We ought to be increasing the share of transportation dollars devoted to maintenance – funding the additional investment by cutting low-priority spending on projects such as expanding rail transit and paving rural secondary roads.
More generally, North Carolina needs a comprehensive, data-driven strategy for reducing traffic congestion, rather than making transportation decisions on the basis of fads, ideology, and pork-barrel considerations.
The current crop of politicians in Raleigh and Washington have had plenty of time to get this right. They’ve failed. Don’t blame them for the bother of adverse weather conditions, the inanity of tabloid TV, or the pain of psoriasis. But when you are stuck in traffic and feel your inner temperature rising, feel free to direct your ire in their general direction.
It’ll be deserved.
Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation.