$99 million a year to fund four turnpike gaps

A long-term spending plan included in the new state budget will give the N.C. Turnpike Authority $25 million this year and, by 2010, a total of $99 million a year to start building three toll roads in central North Carolina and a toll bridge on the northern coast.

The first $25 million a year will help clear the way for construction to start in December on the 18-mile Triangle Expressway, a $967 million project in Research Triangle Park and western Wake County. Traffic could start moving on parts the TriEx by the end of 2010.

Over the next two years the funding grows with money to help start construction on toll roads in Union and Gaston counties and a toll bridge across Currituck Sound.

Projections for traffic counts and toll collections show that the turnpike authority won’t collect enough money from drivers to cover the cost of building, operating and maintaining its planned toll projects over the next 40 years. Legislators were asked to cover the gaps between project costs and toll collections.

They found the money by diverting part of a $172 million yearly transfer from the Highway Trust Fund to the General Fund, where the money has been spent in the past for non-transportation purposes. Transportation advocates have argued in recent years that Highway Trust Fund money — collected mostly from fuel taxes and automobile sales — should be used only for roads.

The General Assembly decided to reduce the transfer to the General Fund, and to increase the turnpike subsidy, gradually over three years.

* TriEx, 18 miles in Wake County and Research Triangle Park. Total cost: $967 million. Gap funding: $25 million each year, starting this year.

* Monroe Connector / Bypass, 21 miles in Union County. Cost: $757 million.  Gap funding: $24 million/yr, starting FY 2009-10.

* Mid-Currituck Bridge, 7 miles over Currituck Sound. Cost: $636 million. Gap funding: $15 million/yr, starting FY 2009-10.

* Garden Parkway, 15 miles in Gaston and Mecklenburg counties. Cost: $765 million. Gap funding: $35 million/yr, starting FY 2010-11.

“This sends a message from legislators, to the people we’ve got to do our financing with, that they’re serious,” said David W. Joyner, director of the turnpike authority.