Opinion
Constitutions are inherently inconvenient
It’s easy to celebrate free speech when the speaker says things you like. It’s easy to embrace the procedural rights enjoyed by criminal defendants when you’re sure they are innocent.
News
Transportation bill stiffs Map Act victims, may be unconstitutional, attorneys say
Homeowners whose property was taken by the government for highway projects may be out of luck if Gov. Roy Cooper signs the transportation bill on his desk. A provision in Senate Bill 356 controls the cost of the Map Act — a controversial 1987 law that let the DOT seize private land without immediately paying...
News
NCDOT gets spending reprieve with some strings attached
The N.C. Department of Transportation’s financial woes may be over, but its headaches live on. After the department overspent by $2 billion, the legislature gave the department $200 million, but at a price. The department must undergo a performance audit, and strengthen its transparency and accountability measures. The department paused 900 projects in August, throwing...
News
Road construction to restart in 2020, but contractors still suffer
Road construction will begin to ramp up again early next year, but contractors say they will suffer in the meantime. After the N.C. Department of Transportation overspent by about $2 billion, it suspended work on 900 projects late this summer. But Transportation Secretary James Trogdon says the NCDOT will take 450 projects off hold by...
News
Folwell wants transportation secretary sacked for overspending
N.C. Transportation Secretary James Trogdon is a bad manager and should be replaced, says State Treasurer Dale Folwell. The transportation department, which is in a financial bind after overspending by about $2 billion this year, deserves a leader with better oversight, Folwell said Oct. 31. NCDOT depleted its budget in 2019, shows a report commissioned...
Opinion
N.C. DOT overspent in its rush to spend $670 million
The N.C. Department of Transportation has a cash shortfall. But not for the reasons department officials are giving. They had a deliberate policy to spend cash with little regard for normal safeguards. The House Transportation Committee recommended a bill to provide $660 million in emergency funding so the department doesn’t lay off 500-600 workers and delay...
News
N.C. DOT request for emergency funds facing some skepticism
Some House members want to give the N.C. Department of Transportation an emergency bailout. The DOT is running out of money after hefty expenses in recent months. As a result, the House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee voted Wednesday, Oct. 23, for two major funding initiatives, in a revamped version of H.B. 967. Some say the funding...
News
State transportation department running low on reserves
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify a statement about state law requirements for NCDOT’s cash balance. The N.C. Department of Transportation is running out of gas. NCDOT depleted its budget in 2019, a new report shows, leaving top members of the N.C. General Assembly to question how, and why, the department failed...
News
Senate votes to repeal Map Act, bill goes to governor
The Map Act’s days may be numbered. State senators voted June 12 to repeal the Map Act, the law allowing the N.C. Department of Transportation to freeze development on property within a highway corridor. The vote was unanimous. “This act has been a way for the NCDOT to tie properties up for a number of...
News
Bill repealing Map Act gets approval from transportation committee
The Map Act may have reached the end of the road. The House Transportation Committee has given a favorable report to House Bill 131, which aims to repeal the act. A companion bill, Senate Bill 71, is in the Senate Rules Committee. H.B. 131 heads to the House Judiciary Committee. Rep. Debra Conrad, R-Forsyth, is a...
News
Superior Court Judge sanctions N.C. DOT for missing deadline for MAP ACT property appraisals
Forsyth Superior Court Judge John O. Craig III issued a July 6 sanction penalizing the N.C. Department of Transportation for missing a May 28 deadline for appraising Winston-Salem properties affected by the Map Act. The department was supposed to submit 191 appraisals by May 28, but a substantial number were either submitted after the deadline...
News
Many property owners, trapped by Map Act, are still waiting to be paid
WINSTON-SALEM — Shawn and Cindy Weeks would like nothing more than to move. They’ve outgrown their house, on a quarter acre in Winston Salem, but can’t find a buyer. It comes down, really, to one law, which removed basic property rights and left homeowners in real estate purgatory. The Weeks’ property is in the path...
