A House proposal that won unanimous approval last week to allow limited toll collection on Interstate 95 faced an unexpected challenge from toll foes when it returned for a final House floor vote Tuesday.

The House eventually gave its final approval -- not unanimous, this time -- and sent to the Senate a bill that would let the state Department of Transportation charge tolls only on new lanes added to interstate highways, while guaranteeing that drivers still can use the original lanes without paying tolls.

Rep. Michael Speciale, a New Bern Republican, tried to amend the bill to give the legislature power to veto any DOT decision to add toll lanes to an existing interstate highway. He said he supported the legislature's ongoing efforts to remove politics from transportation decision-making ... but not on toll roads.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave it in DOT’s hands” to decide which roads get tolls, Speciale said. “I don’t think we should abdicate our position and turn it over to an unelected bureaucrat, to let DOT make that decision for us.”

Bill supporters said local planning boards will have veto power over future toll projects, and DOT will be required to consult the legislature. They said Speciale's proposal would undo the support of DOT and Senate leaders for the measure, which preserves drivers' option to continue using interstates without paying tolls.

“I see an issue with I-95 because we have so many different opinions up and down the highway,” said Rep. Pat McElraft, an Emerald Isle Republican. “When you leave it up to people in the General Assembly, you might have one opnion down in Lumberton and another opinion from another area of I-95 – and you might have representatives fighting each other. We need to leave it to DOT.”

The House defeated Speciale's amendment by 97 to 18, and then approved the bill by 108 to 7.

Here are some of the transportation funding and policy changes outlined in the proposed Senate budget (PDF) released Sunday. Some of these are new proposals, and others were previously aired this spring in separate legislation:

Try to acquire federal land around Oregon Inlet: The Oregon Inlet Land Acquisition Task Force is established to study the state's options for acquiring land around the Oregon Inlet from the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service so the state can preserve the navigability of Oregon Inlet.

Charge tolls on all ferries: Order the state Department of Transportation to begin collecting tolls on all seven ferry routes by November 1, with rates high enough to generate $5 million to $10 million a year in revenues. This would include tolls on the two routes that the General Assembly said last year would stay toll-free: Hatteras Inlet and Currituck Sound. [MORE] ...

Raleigh's Tift Merritt has a lovely song that comes to mind on the General Assembly's frantic "Crossover Day." Any bill that didn't clear one chamber by the end of the day Thursday was eliminated from consideration by the other chamber.

In a weary voice, Merritt sings:

I don't want to talk to nobody,
Don't want to make no plans,
I'm so tired of this party,
I've had all my laughs.
I'll send you something when I cross over,
Something when I cross over.

Here's where we stand, after Crossover Day, on major transportation legislation: ... [MORE]

View NC tolls for I-95 in a larger map

In a unanimous vote Thursday, the House agreed to let the state collect tolls to help pay for the addition of new lanes on I-95 and other interstate highways -- but only if drivers retain the option to drive toll-free in the old lanes. (5/18/13 update: See today's story with reader comments.)

Eastern North Carolina political leaders and residents of the eight I-95 counties have opposed a state Department of Transportation proposal to collect tolls on both new and old lanes to finance a $4.4 billion widening and overhaul for I-95. The aging interstate would be expanded from four to eight lanes on the busiest 50 miles between I-40 in Johnston County and St. Pauls in Robeson County, and six lanes on the remainder of its 182 miles between the South Carolina and Virginia borders. Under the original proposal, drivers would begin paying tolls in all lanes before the project is finished.

If the Senate agrees with the House approach, DOT will have to adjust its plans.

"If they decide they want to toll any lanes on interstates that exist in North Carolina, they can only do that if they build new lanes," said Rep. Jeff Collins, a Rocky Mount Republican who sponsored the bill. "They can't toll the current lanes now in anticipation of building new non-toll lanes later. They can't build a toll lane unless they keep they same number of non-toll lanes that were in existence before they built those toll lanes."

Rep. Elmer Floyd, a Fayetteville Democrat, said the legislation will be welcome news for local residents and trucking companies that depend on I-95.

"This bill will help the poorest portion of our state," Floyd said.

Collins said DOT officials have spoken tentatively of adding the new lanes and giving them higher speed limits, as an incentive to out-of-state drivers who might be willing to pay the toll.

"There might be a 10 mph advantage to paying the toll, or something like that, if you wanted to fly through our state," Collins said. "People in my area can go up and down I-95 without paying a toll."

President Barack Obama's decision to make Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx the next U.S. transportation secretary is good news for North Carolina, former state Transportation Secretary Gene Conti said Sunday.

“Because he knows North Carolina, and he will be responsive to North Carolina’s needs,” said Conti, who served as an assistant U.S. transportation secretary during the Clinton administration and headed the state DOT under former Gov. Bev Perdue.

Foxx is expected to be named Monday to succeed Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Illinois congressman.

“Obviously he can’t just direct money willy-nilly to North Carolina, but I will tell you that Illinois fared very well under Secretary LaHood. I think North Carolina will have a sympathetic ear there. I think this is excellent news for North Carolina,” Conti said.

Conti praised Foxx for his work as Charlotte mayor to advance the city’s rail transit plan and to push for freight and passenger rail improvements and completion of Charlotte’s I-485 Outer Loop. When Conti chaired a national railroad policy committee meeting in Charlotte, Foxx “spoke very eloquently about rail, off the cuff, and he wowed the crowd about how important the rail connections would be for Charlotte. I think he is very capable.”

During his first campaign for governor in 2008, Republican Pat McCrory hammered his opponent, Bev Perdue, on her ties to major Democratic Party fundraisers on the state Board of Transportation.

McCrory vowed repeatedly in 2008 that he would never appoint campaign fundraisers to the transportation board if he was elected governor.

But that's what he did after he won the 2012 election.

Mike Smith, a Raleigh real estate executive, was sworn into office Thursday (eighth from the left in photo, above) as one of Gov. McCrory's first appointees to the transportation board. Smith reports on campaign disclosure forms that he personally collected $106,000 for McCrory's 2012 campaign. (See copy of his disclosure form, below.) A second appointee, Wilmington lawyer Mike Lee, said he had rounded up $500 as a McCrory fundraiser.... [MORE]

Gov. Pat McCrory's campaign raised $156,394 with the help of nine men and a woman who will take their seats Thursday as his appointees to the state Board of Transportation, according to financial disclosure statements released Wednesday by McCrory's office.

The governor's top helper among the group is Michael C. Smith of Raleigh, president of Kane Realty Corp., the developer of North Hills. Smith is the new transportation board representative for Division 5, seven Triangle-area counties including Durham and Wake.

Smith is the only one of the 10 new board members who reports no campaign contributions directly from himself to McCrory. But he says he worked as a campaign fundraiser, bringing in $106,000 from other donors to McCrory, and his brother gave $250. ... [MORE]

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]

Young illegal immigrants who have earned a federal reprieve from deportation began visiting NC Division of Motor Vehicles offices across the state Monday to apply for driver's licenses. (Update: See 3/25/13 story: Young immigrants eager for driver's licenses and 3/22/13 story: NCDMV drops pink stripe for immigrant driver's license.)

More than 16,000 teens and young adults in North Carolina will be eligible for two-year licenses because of their participation in the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, for immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children or remained here illegally after their visas expired.

I'm reporting on this today and this week. I would like to speak with young immigrants, including Triangle residents who overstayed their visas, who plan to apply for driver's licenses. Please email me (bruce.siceloff@newsobserver.com) with your name and daytime contact info. Or call me at 919-829-4527.

House and Senate members on the Joint Transportation Oversight Committee say they still have not been given a chance to review 10 new appointees to the state Board of Transportation, as required by state law. But Gov. Pat McCrory is moving ahead with plans to install them at the April 3 board meeting.

On March 1, McCrory sent the 10 names, along with documents that disclose how much money each appointee contributed to the governor's election campaign -- to the House and Senate clerks, the House speaker and the Senate president pro tempore. He didn't send the packets to members of the oversight committee, as was done by previous governors.

“In the past they were mailed directly to us, each member, from the governor’s offices," said Sen. Clark Jenkins, a Tarboro Democrat who serves on the oversight committee and previously was its chairman. “I think the governor’s office should go a little bit further than leaving some sort of notice at the clerk’s office and the chambers’ leadership offices. I think it should go to the oversight committee."

McCrory has sole authority to make appointments to the 19-member board. But the law provides for review by the House-Senate committee of the new members and their campaign financial disclosure statements before they are sworn in: ... [MORE]