North Carolina is one of 40 states seeking chunks of President Obama's $8 billion in stimulus money to jump-start work on a national network of fast, frequent passenger train service.

NCDOT has filed notice (see today's story with reader comments) of plans to apply for a total of $4 billion for 90 different projects up and down the line between Charlotte and Richmond (we're teamed up with Virginia for what is called the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor.)

You can find a package of "pre-application" documents sent by NCDOT to the Federal Railroad Administration here.

And you can read a John Locke Foundation critique of the Obama rail plan here. 

The U.S. Department of Transportation has approved a $386 million loan to help the N.C. Turnpike Authority finance construction of the $1 billion, 18.8-mile Triangle Expressway, a toll road through Research Triangle Park and western Wake County.

"This project will go a long way toward serving the travel needs of commuters in key educational and employment centers in this important region," Ray LaHood, the U.S. transportation secretary, said in a press release.

The turnpike authority expects to sell $615 million in bonds to raise the rest of the money, which would be repaid from toll collections. Construction is expected to begin in early August.

Local and regional transit agencies across the Triangle will buy buses and make other improvements with some of North Carolina’s share of federal stimulus funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, federal officials said this week.

Ray LaHood, the U.S. transportation secretary, announced $52.5 million for transit improvements in North Carolina, including:

$7.6 million to Raleigh to buy 23 acres for a new bus operation and maintenance center and park-and-ride lot.

$4.3 million to Durham for bus maintenance and painting, 24 paratransit vans, 20 bus shelters, and GPS satellite technology that will give riders real-time information about bus arrival times.

$2.7 million to Chapel Hill for two 40-foot hybrid-electric buses, eight lift-equipped vans, a maintenance truck, bus shelters and benches, and hardware and software for a fleet inventory system.

$2.8 million to the Triangle Transit Authority for five 40-foot buses, three paratransit vans, a real-time bus arrival system, passenger amenities at bus stops, and paving.

House Bill 148, authorizing counties to levy a half- or quarter-cent sales tax to fund transit improvements, was pulled from a Senate committee agenda today. It might be held aside until after the legislature adopts a budget.

Some legislators don't want to consider the local-option sales tax until after the House and Senate come to agreement on possible statewide hikes in sales and other taxes.

There are changes being considered for the bill whenever it does resurface.

The version approved by the House gives local county commissioners and voters (in a required referendum) the option for a half-cent sales tax in the Triad and Triangle's Wake, Durham, Orange, Guilford and Forsyth counties, with a quarter-cent option in all other counties except Mecklenburg (the only county that already has a half-cent transit sales tax).

Some Mecklenburg folks want to add the option to hike their transit sales tax from one-half to a full one cent. And Mecklenburg Sen. Dan Clodfelter wants to remove the quarter-cent option for the 94 outside the Triad and Triangle.

Stay tuned.

This week the Senate will take up a House bill authorizing Triangle counties to pay for bus and rail transit improvements with a half-cent local sales tax. Sponsors say they have the votes to win.

The Senate Finance Committee will consider House Bill 148 at 1 p.m. Wednesday in Room 544 of the Legislative Office Building. If you can’t be there, you can listen online.

"Once the bill comes up, we have the votes," said Rep. Deborah Ross, a Raleigh Democrat and House sponsor.

The bill sets up state programs, but does not provide state funding, for railroad, aviation, ferry and transit improvements.

It gives five urban counties – Wake, Durham, Orange, Guilford, Forsyth – the option for a half-cent transit sales tax if approved by the county commissioners and by local voters in a referendum. And it gives other counties except Mecklenburg (which already has a transit sales tax) the option for a quarter-cent transit sales tax. ... [MORE]

As North Carolina prepares to bid for several hundred million dollars in federal stimulus grants for fast passenger train improvements, Transportation Secretary Gene Conti is taking a leadership role in a national group of state officials that lobbies the government on rail issues.

Conti is the new chairman of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Standing Committee on Rail Transportation. The group makes recommendations on federal passenger and freight rail policies that affect the states.

“Hopefully that will position us to be first in line for some of this money,” Conti told Triangle business and government leaders at a Regional Transportation Alliance breakfast today in downtown Raleigh. “And I think we’re excited about the prospects.” ... [MORE]

North Carolina motorists might not get a break in gas and diesel fuel taxes this summer, after all.

The tax is scheduled to drop by 2 cents to 27.9 cents a gallon on July 1. The current tax, 29.9 cents, has been the highest allowed by state law since 2006.

But – to boost revenues for the state Department of Transportation – the Senate Finance Committee this week proposed to make 29.9 cents the minimum rate, instead of the maximum.

[Update 5/8/9: The full Senate approved this bill in a 34-12 vote Thursday (see today's story with reader comments). It is scheduled for a final Senate vote  Monday night. Then it goes to the House.] 

If the General Assembly agrees, the July 1 tax cut will be canceled and the rate will stay the same – and it could go higher in the future. ... [MORE]

No, really. Our DOT said that. But there’s a catch.

The Carrboro aldermen last week rejected a DOT plan to widen a short stretch of Smith Level Road on the south side of town. The DOT plan also would add sidewalks and bike lanes and a roundabout at the Rock Haven Road -- the busy entrance road to Carrboro High School.

Carrboro liked most of the plan, which has been hashed over for quite a few years. But the town balked at widening Smith Level to four lanes between BPW Club Road and the Morgan Creek bridge, less than a half mile.

At a meeting Tuesday, DOT offered Carrboro three options:

(1) accept the DOT proposal, unlikely because it means reversing a 5-to-1 vote against it;

(2) scrap the road project and start all over with a new plan for sidewalks and bike lanes, starting a process that would take years with uncertain prospect of success, or

(3) let DOT build the road pretty much to Carrboro’s specifications – and then give this portion of Smith Level Road over to the town.

Option 3 means Carrboro can have its way -- if it is willing to take on the cost of maintaining this short stretch, less than a mile in all, of Smith Level Road in the future. Pothole patching, lane striping, repaving whenever the asphalt wears out, even widening it if Carrboro ever recognizes that necessity. ... [MORE]

North Carolina continues to reap the benefits of fiercely competitive bidding from highway contractors hungry for work.

The state Department of Transportation figures it will save more than $9 million on four Triangle-area road projects that carried a combined estimated cost of $39 million, all to be funded with federal stimulus money.

Contracts are expected to be awarded in the next few days after these low bids were opened this week, ranging from 20 percent to 28 percent below DOT cost estimates: ... [MORE]

In a 77-40 vote today, the House gave preliminary approval to a local-option sales tax for bus and rail transit service, after turning back a move to let some of the money be spent for roads.

“We can’t build but so many roads here,” said Rep. Mickey Michaux, a Durham Democrat. "We have to have this rail transit, particularly in those areas that are highly populated and densely populaed."

“Each community is different, and this bill empowers each community to do what is best for it,” said Rep. Deborah Ross, a Raleigh Democrat and one of the bill sponsors.

But Rep. Cary Allred, a Burlington Republican, said it was wrong to “ask working people to pay more and more” in taxes.

“I don’t think anybody in this state is ever going to ride a train on a regular basis -- unless they do not own an automobile, or gasoline prices are more than $5 a gallon,” he said.

The measure would let commissioners in three Triangle and two Triad urban counties levy a half-cent sales tax — if local voters agree — for bus and rail transit improvements. The money also could be spent on express
highway lanes for buses and carpools. ... [MORE]