Last week, I submitted a letter expressing my opposition to current plans to use tolls to pay for improvements to Interstate 95. After hearing from numerous constituents from surrounding areas about their concerns, it is clear that NCDOT did not demonstrate that these improvements could be implemented without a toll as required by law. While our highways need to be updated to meet growing needs and usage, it should not come at unnecessary costs to businesses and the surrounding communities.
For years, eastern North Carolina and I-95 corridor residents have suffered the burden of rising gas taxes - which are already the sixth highest in the nation. While highway expansion and maintenance projects continue in our state, the question remains: where have our already high tax dollars gone and why should we expect a new tax in the form of tolls to be any different? Any improvement in our highway system should not come at the expense of our economy and attracting business to our state...especially the hardest hit, economically-depressed areas along the I-95 corridor and eastern North Carolina.
Under proposals by the Perdue Administration and North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), a new pilot program to expand Interstate 95 would require new tolls along the highway to pay for 90 percent of the $4.4 billion project. These tolls will place an undue burden on commuters and businesses, causing a number of perverse incentives including redirected traffic to secondary roads, loss of income to businesses, and further stress to the neighboring economies.
Click to read the full letter to the Federal Highway Administration.
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