Transportation Secretary Tony Tata has endorsed a Senate proposal that probably would kill three turnpike projects in Currituck, New Hanover and Gaston counties.

If the measure becomes law, the state Department of Transportation will find itself authorized to continue work on only two toll roads: the 19.7-mile Monroe Connector / Bypass east of Charlotte, and the Triangle Expressway Southeast Extension, which would extend the 540 Outer Loop across southern Wake County from Holly Springs to I-40 near Garner.

State House leaders have not decided whether to go along with the Senate idea. The Senate added the provision three weeks ago, when it approved a House bill that began with a more limited scope. ... [MORE]

Rep. Dana Bumgardner, a first-year Republican from Gaston County, has introduced legislation to scrap state plans to build the Garden Parkway, a $900 million toll road through Gaston County

“During the campaign, voters from both sides of (the) aisle overwhelmingly voiced their opposition to this needless road,” Bumgardner said in a news release. “This is not about political parties. This is about saving the taxpayers money and preserving people’s private properties from a pointless road.” (2/21/13 update: see Steve Harrison's story.)

Environmental groups and other Republican legislators have expressed a shared disdain for the Garden Parkway and other toll projects over the past year. The parkway, intended to alleviate Interstate 85 traffic west of Charlotte, was undermined by a state Department of Transportation study that predicted it would funnel jobs into neighboring South Carolina. Sen. Kathy Harrington, a Gaston County Republican who co-chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, won election by campaigning against the parkway.

Although tolls are collected from drivers, taxpayers also would help pay for these roads. Projected toll collections aren’t sufficient to repay what DOT must borrow to build and operate the toll road. Bumgardner's bill would cancel a promise by the General Assembly to spend $37 million a year to cover the expected gap between Garden Parkway project costs and toll collections.

Here's what's at stake with state budget maneuvers over funding for two new toll projects:

The state Department of Transportation plans to finance the Garden Parkway and the Mid-Currituck Bridge mostly with tolls collected from the drivers that will use them. The legislature already has authorized millions of dollars for planning and preliminary work on these two toll projects.

But DOT doesn’t expect to collect enough in tolls to pay the whole cost of operating and maintaining the road and the bridge, and repaying the money that will be borrowed to finance their construction.

To provide that missing money, the General Assembly has agreed in recent years to make annual “gap” payments for toll roads and bridges.

Each year’s budget now includes gap payments of $25 million for the Triangle Expressway in Research Triangle Park and western Wake County, which opened in January, and $24 million for the planned Monroe Connector Bypass in Union and Mecklenburg counties.

The House proposed in May to add $35 million for the Garden Parkway in Gaston and Mecklenburg counties, and $28 million for the Mid-Currituck Bridge in Currituck County, both starting in 2013. But Senate leaders wanted to cut that money to $15 million for the bridge and $17.5 million for the parkway.

Leaders of both chambers agreed Wednesday to cut all gap money for the Garden Parkway and Mid-Currituck Bridge from the 2013 budget.

Included in the budget agreement rolled out today are provisions that:

* Direct the Department of Transportation to start collecting new and increased ferry tolls that had been ordered in the budget a year ago, but with some changes:

 - The busy Hatteras – Ocracoke ferry across Hatteras Inlet and the Knotts Island ferry across Currituck Sound will remain toll-free, as legislators had agreed in 2011.  Senate leaders previously favored tolls on these routes, too. 

 - The House and Gov. Bev Perdue had proposed to delay the new tolls for a year, citing economic hardship in ferry-dependent coastal communities. The leaders of both chambers agreed in the new budget to give a one-year reprieve only for riders on one route: the Cherry Branch – Minnesott Beach ferry across the Neuse River, which serves Cherry Point commuters.

- Riders on the Pamlico River ferry in Beaufort County, which also serves commuters, will have to start paying tolls for the first time.

* Cut $63 million in funding for the planned Garden Parkway near Charlotte and Mid-Currituck Bridge toll projects on the northern Outer Banks, because DOT officials have said they will not be ready to spend the money in the coming year. 

* Drop a Senate proposal to charge a statewide fee of $45 for teens under age 18 who take driver education class.  Local school systems are still authorized to collect a fee of up to $45, to make up for a cut in state funding last year.

* Eliminate the state’s New Starts program that supplements federal money for urban rail transit projects. The remaining $25 million in the fund will be earmarked for Charlotte’s light-rail line, which has been the only New Starts beneficiary to date. Local officials in the Triangle and other communities with plans for light-rail now will have to compete with highway projects for state money.

* Cut the gas tax, now 38.9 cents per gallon, to a maximum 37.5 cents for the coming year.

* Cut $26 million from a state fund for paving dirt roads and improving other secondary roads.

Documents:

The Senate Rules Committee chairman launched an investigation today into what he called "fraudulent" letters sent to legislators last week that appeared to reverse the state Department of Transportation's position on the need for $63 million in start-up funds for two toll projects (see today's story with reader comments).

Sen. Tom Apodaca, a Hendersonville Republican, said DOT officials would be asked to speak at a Rules Committee hearing Wednesday morning, and representatives of Gov. Bev Perdue's office would be asked to speak at a second hearing Thursday morning.

The letters were drafted Thursday morning by Perdue staffers on DOT stationery and over the signature of Jim Trogdon, DOT's chief operating officer, and appeared to reverse a recommendation Trogdon had made in a June 8 memo to legislative leaders. ... [MORE]

Senate Republican leaders said today they want to spend much more money on bridge repair and highway maintenance -- and to slash state spending for transit and turnpike projects.

But, while both the House and Senate budgets would reduce other taxes in several areas, Senate leaders said they had not decided whether to take action to prevent a sharp increase in the state gas tax scheduled to take effect in July.

The Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee today received, but was not allowed to vote on, a proposed two-year transportation budget (see documents attached to this post) that would make some big changes in budget proposals offered by Gov. Bev Perdue and the House of Representatives.

The Senate would:

• Kill the $660 million Mid-Currituck Bridge toll project for the Currituck Outer Banks and the $870 million Garden Parkway in Gaston and Mecklenburg counties. [Update: See 5/25/11 story.]... [MORE]