North Carolina's new Strategic Transportation Initiative will restructure funding for capital projects starting after July 1, 2015, and rural areas may have more difficulty getting funding for projects, Paige Rentz writes for McClatchy News Service.
"The program signed into law in June creates three project tiers: those with statewide impact funded solely on data and those with regional and division impact, which are both prioritized based 70 percent on data and 30 percent on local input," Rentz reports.
The data will come down to congestion, state Board of Transportation Member Ed Grannis said. "It's really hard for me to see how those folks are going to benefit and get projects in this," he said. "Places like Bladenboro and Whiteville—I think they're going to have a very difficult time competing."
Frances Bisby, coordinator for the Fayettville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, said there are still ways for rural areas to get funding. She suggests that "savings in travel time, freight traffic and connection to transportation terminals are key in prioritizing projects," Rentz writes.
"The program signed into law in June creates three project tiers: those with statewide impact funded solely on data and those with regional and division impact, which are both prioritized based 70 percent on data and 30 percent on local input," Rentz reports.
The data will come down to congestion, state Board of Transportation Member Ed Grannis said. "It's really hard for me to see how those folks are going to benefit and get projects in this," he said. "Places like Bladenboro and Whiteville—I think they're going to have a very difficult time competing."
Frances Bisby, coordinator for the Fayettville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, said there are still ways for rural areas to get funding. She suggests that "savings in travel time, freight traffic and connection to transportation terminals are key in prioritizing projects," Rentz writes.
The most neglected region in N. C. is WNC and all of the rural communities west of Asheville. The congestion around Western Carolina University has been a major problem for the past twenty years.
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