Leaders targeting bill to get highway funding
By Steve Herring
Published in News on August 9, 2015 1:50 AM
The U.S. 117/I-795 and U.S. 70 corridors have been designated as high priorities in the six-year highway bill recently passed by the U.S. Senate.
But it is not a done deal -- the House recessed before acting on its version of the bill.
Instead, the existing highway bill was extended for three months meaning it will be at least October before the proposal will be taken up again.
Still Wayne County Commissioner Joe Daughtery called the Senate passage "fantastic" news. Daughtery is also chairman of the county Transportation Committee, which will meet this Thursday at 11:30 a.m. at Lane Tree Golf Club.
"What I think we need to do is to reach out to our House members and our representatives in the U.S. Congress and ask them to make sure that is included in the House version so that moving forward, when this is passed in the next 90 days, that it will be designated as future Interstates," he said.
Daughtery said he had "kind of picked up the flag" of those people who for years pressed to have Interstate 795 extended.
An interstate going to Morehead City would bring jobs and economic development to the county "like we cannot even imagine," he said.
"It is just a huge economic boost for eastern North Carolina, not only Wayne County but all of eastern North Carolina," Daughtery said. "It is great for our military because our military needs those interstates for fast deployment.
"It is good for our agriculture. It is good for our industries. It is just a major item that we need to have here in eastern North Carolina for us to have the economic growth that we need. I would urge everyone of us to contact our congressman and ask them to support this very vital transportation bill."
The official summary of the bill reads, "Amends the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, as amended, to declare as high priority corridors on the National Highway System as well as segments of the Interstate System: (1) U.S. Route 117/Interstate Route 795 from U.S. Route 70 in Goldsboro, Wayne County, North Carolina, to Interstate Route 40 west of Faison, Sampson County, North Carolina; and (2) U.S. Route 70 from its intersection with Interstate Route 40 in Garner, Wake County, North Carolina, to the Port at Morehead City, Carteret County, North Carolina."
The bill also included the Raleigh-Norfolk corridor from Raleigh through Rocky Mount, Williamston, and Elizabeth City to Norfolk, Va.
Those provisions were introduced by North Carolina Sens. Thom Tillis and Richard Burr.
The goal is to secure interstate designation for those routes.
The designation of the highways would advance the North Carolina Department of Transportation's Strategic Transportation Corridors Vision, which aims to provide the state with a network of high priority corridors that will become part of the Interstate system once they are fully built and upgraded to interstate standards, Tillis said in a press release.
"I am pleased that the Senate was able to pass a highway bill that would produce long-lasting benefits for North Carolina, including reduced traffic congestion, improved access to military bases, and increased investments in our state's transportation and infrastructure," Tillis said. "I will continue to work across the aisle with my colleagues from North Carolina to ensure the Raleigh-Norfolk and U.S. 70 corridors soon become part of the interstate system."
"The Senate-passed long term highway bill is a win for all North Carolinians," Burr said in the release. "The highway bill includes important provisions that are vital to our state's infrastructure, benefiting everyone who uses our roads and highways, and encourages economic expansion by connecting some of the east coast's largest ports to North Carolina's cities and towns.
"I will continue to work with Sen. Tillis and my North Carolina House colleagues to ensure that the priorities important to North Carolina remain in the final version of the highway bill."