Creating a DOT that works for North Carolina
Improving North Carolina’s roads and transportation system
is vital to creating economic opportunity

Bev Perdue has announced four critical steps that will enable North Carolina to improve its transportation infrastructure, make the system run more efficiently, and help North Carolina address its transportation revenue shortfall.

North Carolina, once recognized as the “good roads state,” now faces unmet transportation needs of $30 - $65 billion dollars over the next few decades according to some estimates, a shortfall that threatens our quality of life and our economic development.  North Carolina’s next governor must be prepared to confront the challenges facing DOT and to working with diverse – and often competing – regional needs across the state.

Bev Perdue understands how pressing our needs are, and understands that we cannot solve these problems with a one-size-fits-all approach.  As a co-sponsor of legislation creating the $1 billion a year Highway Trust Fund in 1989, Bev has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to helping North Carolina return to its role as the “good roads state.” 

And as North Carolina’s next Governor, her goal will be to build a new North Carolina that earns a reputation as the “great transportation state.”

1) End the transfer of funds from the Highway Trust Fund
When the Trust Fund was created, the annual transfer was a necessary and bi-partisan element to prevent drastic impact to other vital state services such as education and health care.  Today, 19 years later, it is time to end the transfer – every highway-related dollar must stay in the Highway Trust Fund.

Bev will end the$170 million transfer during her first term, generating more than $1 billion in new bonding capacity.  This is a first step toward addressing our most pressing bridge safety needs and road priorities.  

2) Transform the Department of Transportation
We must break the bureaucratic bottleneck by transforming DOT’s outdated, overly-centralized decision making model – just like our best private sector enterprises did long ago.  Project planning and decision making should occur in the field with project directors and engineers with expertise and hands-on knowledge.

Decentralizing DOT, holding divisions accountable for results, and allowing them to partner with cities and counties and regions will create better management and execution of projects.

3) Hold Contractors Accountable
The Perdue administration will reward contractors who finish projects ahead of time and under budget and will punish those who don’t.  This will put pressure on contractors to finish their projects within planned times and budgets.

4) Lower Construction Costs
When it comes to improving North Carolina’s transportation infrastructure, time literally is money – North Carolina’s construction inflation rate is 20% compared to 5-8% nationally.  Bev’s goal is to cut the construction inflation rate by half or more to bring our construction costs in line with other states.

By jumpstarting projects with the billion dollars produced by ending the trust fund transfer, transforming the way DOT does business and makes decisions, and holding contractors accountable, we can complete our transportation projects more efficiently and quickly.  Doing so will not only cut years off of projected construction schedules, it will dramatically reduce transportation costs by reducing our skyrocketing inflation expenses.

Ending the transfer, transforming DOT, holding contractors accountable, and lowering construction costs are all vital steps to helping North Carolina meet its growing transportation needs and to reducing the projected shortfall.  As Governor, Bev Perdue will create a DOT that works for North Carolina.