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.”

View American Tobacco Trail bridge over I-40 in a larger map

Interstate 40 will be shut down from midnight to 7 a.m. Sunday morning while workers use a big crane to lower the steel frame of a 270-foot-long footbridge into place, spanning the six-lane interstate highway in south Durham, the city of Durham said.

I-40 will be closed between N.C. 751 (Exit 274) and Fayetteville Road (Exit 276). Detours will be marked via N.C. 54 (north of I-40) for westbound I-40 travelers and via Renaissance Parkway (south of I-40) for eastbound travelers.

Welders have been busy on the I-40 shoulder assembling the steel-tube bridge frame, which was delivered to the construction site in four pieces. Although the work this week was done entirely on the shoulder and all traffic lanes were open, the construction activity contributed to rush-hour delays as commuters slowed down to see what was going on.

The bridge frame will be lowered into place Sunday on four support piers, two on each side of I-40. In the coming weeks, workers will install the bridge deck, fencing, lighting and other elements.

The bridge is part of a 4.2-mile section of the American Tobacco Trail in southern Durham County that is scheduled to open in July. (See March 27 story.)

View Triangle ramp meters recommended in a larger map

A consultant report (see copy below) lists 12 Triangle interchanges where on-ramp meters could reduce congestion by smoothing out the flow of cars as they merge into busy rush-hour freeway traffic.

(4/16/13 update: see today's Road Worrier column with reader comments.) What do you think about this idea? If you have experience using ramp meters on busy city freeways in U.S. or European cities, I'd like to hear from you.

Please email me (bruce.siceloff@newsobserver.com) with your name and daytime contact info.

Documents:

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]

Union Station is planned as a second transit hub on the west side of downtown Raleigh – but what about that first transit hub, at Moore Square?

The Raleigh City Council approved a contract Tuesday with Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc. to develop a master plan for downtown bus facilities in two phases.

First, the consultants will figure out how big a presence the Capital Area Transit bus service should have as part of a future rail-bus hub around the planned Union Station train depot on West Martin Street. The Union Station neighborhood eventually will serve Amtrak and high-speed intercity rail, regional commuter trains and light rail, Greyhound and local and regional buses.

Once the CAT presence at Union Station is worked out, Parsons Brinckerhoff and city officials will redesign and overhaul the Moore Square Transit Station. Moore Square, seven blocks east of Union Station, is expected to continue as an important local and regional bus hub.

Transportation Secretary Tony Tata announced Monday that Susan Pullium, a student assignment administrator for the Wake County schools, will join him and at least six other former Wake school employees at NCDOT.

Pullium will become NCDOT's strategic planning director. She will work with Nick Tennyson, a former Durham mayor picked for a new position as NCDOT chief deputy secretary for support, on developing the state's long-range transportation infrastructure plan. She will be paid a salary of $88,084. At Wake schools, where Tata had worked as school superintendent for 20 months, Pullium served on a student assignment task force.

“Susan has overseen large-scale planning and community engagement efforts and understands the importance of collaboration,” Tata said in a news release. “She is a talented, innovative individual who will be a tremendous asset as we work with our business and community partners to develop a long-range transportation plan that boosts North Carolina’s economy.”

View Alligator River drawbridge detour in a larger map

If you’re planning a drive to the Outer Banks, you might want to get going soon – before they close the drawbridge into Dare County.4/2/13 update: The U.S. 64 bridge is now closed until April 14.

The U.S. 64 bridge across the Alligator River will be shut down for 12 days, starting Tuesday, April 2, for repairs to a cranky old drawbridge that pivots open for tugboats, fishing vessels and yachts traveling down the Intracoastal Waterway.

There are no quick alternate routes. Beachgoers should prepare for a longer slog that will add at least 30 miles to the journey.

The state Department of Transportation plans in a few years to rebuild the entire 2.8-mile bridge across the Alligator River as part of a $277 million project to widen 16 miles of U.S. 64. But engineers say they dare not wait that long to replace worn-out components that frequently cause trouble for the drawbridge section. ... [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.