It's a teeny bit reassuring to see Triangle average gas prices drift below $4 for the first time in almost a month -- to know that sub-$4 fuel is still possible. (Today's average for regular: $3.98 in the Triangle, $4.042 nationwide.)

During that awful surge from $3 in January to $4 in June, there were predictions that we'd hit $5 by July 4 and $6 by Labor Day. 

It's easy to be pessimistic. If Hurricane Dolly had slapped the same Gulf refineries that got whacked 3 years ago by Katrina and Rita, we might have seen a 50-cent price spike over the course of a few days -- as we did during Labor Day week in 2005. This could still happen this summer. Worse could still happen.

For now, it's hard to know what to make of the huge variations in retail gas prices. Northcarolinagasprices.com, a Gas Buddy website, today shows regular selling at prices that range from $3.59 in Asheboro to $4.29 in Raeford.  In the Triangle (raleighgasprices.com and durhamgasprices.com),  the range is $3.79 to $4.19.

In a cost-cutting move, Triangle Transit this week is relocating its administrative offices to smaller quarters in Research Triangle Park.

The three-county agency also is working on plans to relocate its regional bus transfer center.

Triangle Transit had 53 employees working in its offices at 68 T.W. Alexander Drive in 2004, when it was planning a 28-mile rail transit project. But the staff was reduced after rail plans were shelved in 2006.

Later this week, the 34 employees who now work in the 30,000-square-foot office on Alexander Drive will begin moving furniture to their new space about three miles away at 4600 Emperor Boulevard, Suite 100, in the Imperial Center. With reduced rent on the new 15,000-square-foot office, Triangle Transit expects to save $382,000 this year and over $400,000 next year.

Triangle Transit plans later this year to move workers at its GoTriangle regional transit information center to the Emperor Drive space.

Plans also are being developed to build a new regional transit center at the Imperial Center offices, which would replace Triangle Transit’s current bus transfer stop off Davis Drive.

$4 gas is forcing many of us to drive less. Are we driving more slowly, too?

The American Trucking Association says a national speed limit would save a lot of gas and diesel fuel, cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce accidents. So does Virginia Sen. John Warner.

What do you say? Should we lower the speed limit? 

More importantly, have you lowered your own speed -- or do you think other drivers have slowed down? 

For a story about the speed limit, I'd like to hear about your ideas and your speed.  Please email me.

Looking for a ride or a rider? Driving yourself to work can get really expensive, and really lonely.

When I talked last week with commuters who are tired of driving alone ("Riding out the hard times"), many were frustrated about their inability to find carpool partners. Surely someone would be glad to ride with Keith Hargraves from south of Garner to the Yonkers Road / WakeMed area in East Raleigh. Or with Debbie Knight, who makes the awful trek from Raleigh to Greensboro.

Here's a longer version [updated 8/31/08 with info for carpool-seeking school parents], with links, of my tips for ...

FINDING A CARPOOL / VANPOOL MATE

Asked whether Gov. Mike Easley will make good his threat to veto wide boat legislation that passed overwhelmingly in the House (108-5) and Senate (43-0), Easley's communications director, Sherri Johnson, offers this e-mail reply:

The Governor is going to see if the highways get wider between now and the time the bill gets to him.

 

Updated 4:22 pm: Easley's reply.

The House voted 108-5 this morning to send Gov. Mike Easley a bill he has threatened to veto because it would allow wider boats and trailers to travel on narrow state roads at night. (The Senate voted likewise Wednesday by 43-0).

The legislation would relax state limits on the width of boats that fishermen and other recreational boaters can haul on state roads. It would allow boats up to 9.5 feet wide, day or night — and up to 10 feet wide during daylight hours only.

Current law OKs boats up to 8.5 feet wide, day or night, without  permits. Motorists now can get permits to haul boats up to 10 feet wide — but not on holidays or Sundays or at night.

The Highway Patrol warned that wider boats would cause more crashes and injuries at night because oncoming drivers would not see the danger of boats that might hang over the center line. A legislative aide and other boater backers disputed the warnings and countered that nighttime boat-towing would be safer.

An Easley aide said earlier this week that the governor would consider vetoing the measure if it allowed boats wider than 8.5 feet at night. There was no immediate comment from the governor’s office after the House gave final legislative approval to the bill this morning.

Updated 4:45 p.m. WEDNESDAY. With legislators itching to hit the road in the next few days — maybe by the end of this week — final action was taken several transportation bills in the waning days of the General Assembly:

Wide boats. H 2167 would let fishermen and other recreational boaters haul boats and trailers up to 10 feet wide on state roads without permits, up from the current 8.5-foot limit. It still faces a veto threat from Gov. Mike Easley unless nighttime towing -- dangerous on narrow roads, the Highway Patrol says -- is banned.

The Senate trimmed 6 inches from the nighttime regulation to allow boats and trailers up to 9.5 feet wide on the roads after dark, and approved the bill today. Now the House will consider it and Easley’s effort to keep 8.5 feet as the width limit for nighttime towing.

Driver's licenses. S 1799 authorizes DMV to start printing driver's licenses with laser-engraved black-and-white mugshots instead of the current color photo mugshots. That's partly to save money and also because the mugs would actually be engraved on your plastic license card -- supposedly making it harder than with a printed photo to change your looks with, say, a Groucho mustache and glasses.

Current laser technology is limited to B&W images, but DMV would have the option in the future to change to laser-engraved color images. The Senate approved it and sent it to the governor today.

This bill also backs down from state pledge to deliver all driver's licenses to home addresses by mail. ...

Will 6 inches assuage the governor?  Easley had threatened to veto a bill approved by the House that would let boaters haul 10-foot-wide boats and trailers down narrow roads at night.

The Senate trimmed 6 inches off the measure today, changing the bill to allow nighttime towing of boat-trailer combos up to 9.5 feet wide.  (The current limit is 8.5 feet).  The legislation would still allow 10-foot wide boats and trailers on state roads during daylight hours, without permits.

Do the governor and the Highway Patrol feel more comfortable with 9.5-foot boats on narrow state roads at night?  An Easley spokesman did not immediately have a comment on the governor's reaction.

Jim Trogdon, a former DOT engineer who now works as a General Assembly staffer specializing in transportation matters, says the Highway Patrol and the governor's office have it all wrong.

Legislation to allow nighttime towing of boats and trailers up to 10 feet wide on roads often less than 19 feet wide will NOT cause more crashes and deaths, he says. Instead, he predicts FEWER crashes because more boats will be hauled in darkness, when there's less traffic, and for other reasons.

In e-mail to me, Trogdon says ...

Rep. Arthur Williams says he is not deterred by a veto threat that hangs over his bill to relax highway safety restrictions on fishermen and others who haul wide boats to North Carolina’s lakes and beaches.

Franklin Freeman, a top adviser to Gov. Mike Easley, warned Thursday that Easley might refuse to sign the measure if it allows nighttime hauling of boat trailers up to 10 feet across.

Williams, a Beaufort County Democrat, said Easley’s proposal to ban nighttime hauling “would gut my bill." ...