“It is the Governor’s job to ensure that the citizens and businesses of North Carolina have access to roads and a transportation infrastructure that allows them to travel throughout the state quickly, safely, and efficiently.”

As North Carolina’s Department of Transportation has gone off course, travel has become longer, bumpier, and darker.  Whether commuting to work, or driving over to the next town to visit relatives, people all over the state are encountering long traffic jams, deep pot-holes, and continually burned-out lights.  I will guide NCDOT back on-course, so we can again be called the “good roads state.”

• No Transfers from Highway Trust Fund
  State legislators will no longer be able to fund their pet projects by stealing money from the Highway Trust Fund.  All money raised for roads will be spent on roads.   In addition, I will ask the State Auditor and State Treasurer to investigate past “transfers” of money from the Highway Trust Fund, so that the money that was used improperly will be repaid.
  

• Plan for the Future
  I will develop a 50-Year Transportation and Road Plan for the state.  This plan will take a detailed look at North Carolina’s current and future transportation needs and develop mass transportation and land-use plans to complement existing and future road networks.  No longer will inadequate roads be built that become obsolete before they are completed; but when the roads are built, they will already be designed to carry and efficiently direct traffic for the next several decades to come
  

• Reform NCDOT
  The North Carolina Department of Transportation has become a huge bureaucracy dominated by politicians who frustrate the professionals dedicated to improving the state’s transportation infrastructure.  Influential Board of Transportation members and powerful state legislators subvert professional decisions and often redirect funds to projects for political reasons.  I will end this practice, reduce the size of the Board of Transportation, appoint members based on professional expertise, and Establish new highway divisions based on the needs of the 21st Century by creating separate rural and metropolitan divisions.
  

• Freeze the Gas Tax
  Our state gas tax is the fourth highest in the nation, but it is the only gas tax that is indexed for inflation.  This means that North Carolina will soon have the nation’s highest gas tax!  When I become Governor, I will call on the legislature to immediately freeze the gas tax.
  

• Better Use of What We’ve Got
  We already have many miles of roads, but many of them can be used more efficiently.  I will investigate using Interstate shoulders as additional lanes during peak travel times, expanding reversible lanes to maximize one-way capacity during rush hour, and creating HOT lanes in highly congested areas.