The state Department of Transportation will eliminate more than 400 positions in the coming months, DOT Secretary Gene Conti told employees today.

"Those positions will no longer exist in this department as of June 30, 2012," Conti announced by email. "We are notifying staff as soon as we are certain their positions will be eliminated."

Conti cited budget cuts that have required all state government departments to reduce spending. 

"We were not immune, although we were given time to decide how to make the necessary workforce reductions," he said. ... [MORE]

North Carolina will make use of low-interest federal GARVEE bonds to accelerate construction schedules for urban loops in Winston-Salem, Wilmington, Fayetteville, Greenville, Greensboro, Asheville and Fayetteville, Gov. Bev Perdue said today.
 
Most of the projects will move ahead about two years sooner than scheduled.

In Winston-Salem, where there had been no funding reserved and no schedule established for the future I-74 Northern Beltway, Perdue said the state will begin buying right-of-way in 2012 and start construction in 2015.
 
Other loops that will benefit from earlier schedules are ... [MORE]

The Raleigh City Council will hold a public hearing Aug. 2 on two bond proposals planned for the Oct. 11 ballot: $16 million for affordable housing and $40 million for transportation projects.  The hearing starts at 7 p.m. in the municipal building city council chamber, 222 W. Hargett St.

Here's how the city would spend $40 million in transportation bonds: ... [MORE]

View NC Ferry Routes in a larger map

The little island of Ocracoke has won. In their new budget proposal, Senate Republicans agree with their House counterparts that the state’s busiest ferry, a 40-minute ride from Hatteras to Ocracoke, shall remain toll-free after all.

The budget proposal rolled out today would require the state Department of Transportation to start collecting tolls on two of the four ferries that are free now, both used heavily by commuters: the Neuse River ferry from Cherry Branch to Minnesott Beach, and the Pamlico River ferry from Bayview to Aurora.

There are reports that the new budget also makes changes in funding for rail transit in Charlotte and driver's education classes.

Senate leaders reversed themselves and agreed to keep both the Hatteras-Ocracoke and the less busy Currituck-Knotts Island ferries toll-free.  That matches the House conclusion that both Ocracoke and Knotts islands deserve a toll-free connection to the mainland. ... [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]

View NC Ferry Routes in a larger map

The ferry toll fight is not over for Ocracokers.

Senate Republicans are expected next week to propose that the state collect tolls on all four ferry routes that now are free – including the Hatteras-Ocracoke and Currituck-Knotts Island ferries – and to increase toll rates on three other ferries. The changes would be written into the Senate’s version of the budget.

“The tolls have been fairly low, and they're just trying to get them up closer to what would be reflective of the current cost of service,” said Sen. Neal Hunt, a Raleigh Republican who co-chairs the Senate Budget Committee. “Not trying to cover the entire cost, but just a little bit more of it.”

The Republican-led House agreed a few weeks ago in its budget proposal to keep the Knotts Island and Hatteras-Ocracoke ferries toll-free. Ferries provide the only link between the two islands and the North Carolina mainland. Ocracokers protested that it would be unfair to make residents and visitors start paying. ... [MORE]

North Carolina today won just $4 million of the $624 million it recently requested in federal high-speed rail grants.

The Federal Railroad Administration said NCDOT will use the money to advance planning and finish environmental studies on a proposed new short-cut track from Raleigh to Richmond, for passenger trains that would run as fast as 110 mph. ... [MORE]

View NC Ferry Routes in a larger map

Accepting the same rationale that was used last week to benefit riders on the busy Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry, the House voted 115-1 this morning to keep the less busy Currituck - Knotts Island ferry toll-free.

So two routes that carry one-third of all ferry traffic will not be tolled. That'll make it harder for NCDOT to offset a $10 million cut in state ferry spending.

House leaders originally planned to require that DOT collect tolls on all four routes that are free now: Hatteras-Ocracoke, Currituck-Knotts Island, Bayview-Aurora, and Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach. 

Tolls also would have to be increased on the three routes where riders pay now:  Southport - Fort Fisher (now $5 per car) and Cedar Island-Ocracoke and Swan Quarter-Ocracoke (both now $15 per car).

They made an exception last week to preserve a toll-free link to the mainland for Ocracoke Islanders on the Hatteras ferry, which carries more than 300,000 vehicles a year.

The Knotts Island ferry, which handles 25,000 vehicles a year, got the same deal in a House floor vote today. ... [MORE]

Republicans on the House Transportation Committee helped Democrats turn back a GOP proposal today that would give the legislature veto power over the state’s ability to accept federal railroad improvement grants – but rail foes will have another chance in a transportation budget vote Wednesday.

GOP Rep. Ric Killian of Mecklenburg County abandoned his push to make the state Department of Transportation send $461 million in rail improvement grants back to Washington. He changed tactics with an approach that could squelch chances for more money, including $624 million requested by DOT two weeks ago.

The committee voted 17-15 to weaken Killian's bill, and then approved language that only requires DOT to consult the legislature before accepting rail grants. ... [MOVE]

While Senate Republican leaders have said they won’t go along with legislation to block the state from spending $461 million in federal railroad improvement grants, some House Republicans have redoubled their effort to kill the rail projects and return the money to Washington.

Rep. Ric Killian, a Mecklenburg County Republican who had pulled his kill bill from the House Transportation Committee agenda last week, said Thursday that the committee would resume debate on his proposal next week.

“That bill is still alive and well, and it is going to be heard in some way, shape or form next Tuesday,” Killian said at a meeting of the House Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee, which is debating the transportation section of the House budget plan.

Meanwhile, Killian and other House members have drafted a special budget provision that would take a different approach by subjecting the state Department of Transportation Rail Division to new, unusual layers of legislative oversight.  ... [MORE]