The Town of Columbia discussed new details regarding the US 64 expansion project from Columbia to Manns Harbor in a Tuesday Sept. 3 meeting.

“This project will fall under the new competitive three-tier process as will the Mid-Currituck Bridge,” said Mayor Michael Griffin.

The three-tier process Griffin mentioned refers to a new formula that Governor McCrory has designed as of this year to better allocate the State’s transportation funds.

The process states that projects of statewide significance will receive forty percent of the available revenue, totaling six billion over ten years.

The project selection process will be one hundred percent data-driven, meaning the department will base its decisions on hard facts such as crash statistics and traffic volumes. Factors such as economic competitiveness and freight movement will be taken into consideration to help support and enhance logistics and economic development opportunities throughout the state.

Projects of regional significance will receive thirty percent of the available revenue,        equaling $4.5 billion over a decade based on regional population. Projects on this level compete within specific regions made up of two NCDOT Transportation Divisions. For example, Divisions 1 and 4 are paired together to form a single region.

NCDOT will select applicable projects for funding using two weighted factors. Data will comprise seventy percent of the decision-making process and local rankings by area planning organizations and the NCDOT Transportation Divisions will round out the remaining thirty percent at this level.

 

Projects that address local concerns such as safety, congestion and connectivity will receive thirty percent of the available revenue, or $4.5 billion, shared equally over the NCDOT’s 14 Transportation Divisions.

The department will choose projects based fifty percent on data and fifty percent on local rankings.

“That means since it is not going to be under contract by July 1, 2015, it is going to be competing with projects state-wide,” said Griffin.

Griffin also said that an Alligator River Bridge project will not be built unless there is a four-lane highway connecting to it.

“There is a strong possibility that it might be worthwhile to request Mr. White as well as Mr. Wheelus to investigate whether we can get federal representatives to dedicate funds for the Alligator River Bridge to the Alligator River Bridge Project. That is about half the price of that road project. We need them to get those funds nailed down,” said Griffin.

James Cahoon asked how funds for particular projects are usually handled.

“Is this something that has been done in the past? Where funds are restricted for a particular project?” he asked.

Town Attorney Dwight Wheelus mentioned that legislators might be able to secure funds.

“I think the funds can be locked. I am not sure about federal though. That is just going to be something you are going to have to look at. There may be a way to go at it legislatively,” he said.

Rhett White mentioned that the Alligator River Bridge project and US 64 expansion project have been connected for several years.

“It has been said over and over again in regional transportation meetings, and other places that the money is sitting there for the bridge because it is going to be funded with federal replacement dollars. The issue was always the funding for the section of the highway in Tyrrell County and in Dare County,” said White.

White explained that he mentioned the US 64 expansion project to Betty Jo Shepheard, who represents Sen. Richard Burr in eastern North Carolina.

“I said this is something that we might need some help on. I think people will remember times in Dare County where the Oregon Inlet Bridge has faced similar potential losses of funds. They have been able to nail them down so that the money was there, even though they did not have the authority to build a bridge yet,” said White.