Equity formula: the eye of the beholder (News and Observer)

Submitted by BruceSiceloff on 03/02/2010 – 10:05

A joint committee of House and Senate members is soliciting public comment on the “equity formula” set up by the legislature in 1989 to guide the distribution of most state and federal road-building money.

Is it equitable? Generally, urban types say no and rural types say yes.

That’s because the equity formula does not give any weight to spending sparse dollars where North Carolina has its worst traffic congestion. Population is a factor, but residents are counted where they live and not where they drive.

So there’s money available, for example, to build a U.S. 17 bypass around the town of Washington, N.C., where NCDOT officials recently had a ceremonial ribbon-cutting.

DOT traffic figures show that U.S. 17 carried an average 21,000 vehicles every day in 2000 at its busiest point near Washington — and it had the same daily traffic count, 21,000, when DOT last counted cars there in 2008. Washington’s population has increased by 6 percent since 2000 to an estimated 10,216 in 2008.

Those are tiny numbers on the Triangle scale of traffic and population growth, but U.S. 17 improvements are a big cause for business and political leaders in Eastern North Carolina.

The legislature is considering whether to tinker with the equity formula. The touchy issue will be discussed at an upcoming meeting of the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. Nelson Cole of Reidsville and Sen. Steve Goss of Boone.

The meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. April 6 in Room 544 of the Legislative Office Building. Anyone who wants to speak at the meeting about the equity formula, or to provide comments in writing, is invited to contact Bob Weiss of the legislature’s Fiscal Research Division ([email protected] or 919-733-4910) by March 31.

Weiss says:

Of particular interest are comments and recommendations on:

1. The current transportation funding distribution formula, set out in G.S. 136-17.2A, and commonly known as the “Equity Formula.”
2. The effects of the current formula on transportation needs in urban, suburban, and rural parts of the State.
3. The best ways to utilize the State’s limited transportation funds

County officials heading to lobby in Raleigh (The Daily Reflector)

By JOSH HUMPHRIES

Monday, April 5, 2010

County officials will travel to Raleigh today to make a case for leaving the transportation funding process alone.

The Pitt County Board of Commissioners reached a consensus Monday to send county staff to a General Assembly committee meeting where legislators will take comments on the methods by which funding is dispersed through the Department of Transportation.

Commissioner Tom Johnson added discussion of the item to the board’s morning meeting at the county office building.

“Show your displeasure with changing the equity formula and by doing so reducing the amount of funding in the east,” Johnson said.

County Manager Scott Elliot said a possible change using commuter miles in a funding formula would be unfairly advantageous to urban areas and hurt the counties of eastern North Carolina.

N.C. DOT funding is distributed through 14 divisions in the state; 25 percent of funding is distributed equally across all divisions, 25 percent is based on the number of miles in the division and the remaining 50 percent is based on the population of the division.

Panel will explore road-money split (News and Observer)

Published Tue, Mar 09, 2010 03:52 AM
Modified Tue, Mar 09, 2010 05:28 AM

They snipped a red ribbon in Beaufort County a couple of weeks ago to celebrate the nearly finished U.S. 17 bypass around Chocowinity, a shrinking town with a pretty name.

The state Department of Transportation has laid out a $210 million freeway that curves east to pass Chocowinity and then zooms around the west side of nearby Washington, N.C., crossing the Tar River on a 2.8-mile bridge.

The Washington-Chocowinity Bypass is a pretty good example of what’s wrong or what’s right – depending on where you live and drive – with the “equity formula” that governs how most road-building money is divided between rural and urban areas of North Carolina.

The legislature is considering whether to tinker with the formula this year.

Is it equitable? City-dwellers generally think not.

That’s because the equity formula gives no weight to spending scarce dollars where North Carolina has its worst traffic congestion. Population is a minor factor in the formula, but residents are counted where they live and not where they drive.

Rural business and political leaders in Eastern North Carolina like theequity formula, which has helped pay for their push to four-lane every foot of U.S. 17 from South Carolina and Wilmington to ElizabethCity and Virginia.

“As you all know, this is a significant corridor that supports the needs of Eastern North Carolina,” Jim Trogdon, the No. 2 man at the DOT, told members of the state Board of Transportation last week. U.S. 17 carries about 21,000 cars each day near Washington, a figure that has not changed since 2000.

Trogdon said the new 6.8-mile U.S. 17 bypass “is going to benefit drivers in Washington as well as Chocowinity by certainly improving mobility on this critical route.”

Washington has grown in recent years, with an estimated 10,216 residents in 2008. But Chocowinity surely must be one of the smallest towns in North Carolina with a new four-lane, 70-mph bypass.

And it is getting smaller. The official 2008 estimate of 706 residents in Chocowinity marks a population drop of 27 since the 2000 Census.

Rolesville’s long wait

Meanwhile, back in the Triangle, the northern Wake County town of Rolesville counted 907 residents in the 2000 Census, making it slightly larger than Chocowinity. Since then, Rolesville’s population has nearly tripled, to an estimated 2,673 in 2008.

One of Wake County’s top highway priorities is theperennially postponed widening of U.S. 401, a project that includes a Rolesville bypass. The DOT now expects to start work on the Rolesville bypass next year.

A House-Senate committee that oversees transportation issues will discuss the equity formula at a meeting scheduled for April 6. Triangle, Triad and Charlotte leaders are ready to lobby for changes.

“Right now the weight is favored toward the less urban areas,” said Sen. Neal Hunt of Raleigh, a member of the oversight committee. “It certainly ought to have an ingredient for congestion, absolutely.”

Rep. Jim Crawford of Oxford, also on the committee, says the equity formula has been good for North Carolina.

“The rural areas have a hard time getting their share, and that’s why we have anequity formula,” Crawford said.

Road funds don’t follow population in N.C. (News and Observer)

Published Mon, Mar 29, 2010 05:02 AM
Modified Mon, Mar 29, 2010 05:16 AM

Raleigh drivers think they and their city are getting ripped off.

And they’re right. Sort of.

Raleigh commuters routinely idle in traffic snarls such as the Interstate 40 bottleneck in and out of Research Triangle Park. They believe that local taxpayers shovel millions of dollars into the state Department of Transportation and get squat in return, especially when it comes to asphalt and yellow stripes.

Wake is the state’s second-most populous county, and second only to Mecklenburg in state spending for road maintenance and construction.

But when spending shares are counted on a per-capita basis, according to DOT and census data analyzed by The News & Observer, Wake ranks 90th out of North Carolina’s 100 counties.

DOT spent an average $3,756 for each North Carolinian during the past 10 years, but only $2,959 per person in Wake. That statewide average would have boosted Wake’s share of DOT money since 2000 by 27 percent, or $715 million.

IBM manager Bruce Morris’ commute from his home near Apex into Research Triangle Park can last 40 to 90 minutes, depending on how clogged I-40 gets each day.

“If I’m on brake lights by Aviation Parkway, it’s going to take me forever,” Morris said.

He has a secret, until now, strategy for coping with the daily jam. He stays in the right-hand lanes leading up to the Harrison Avenue exit. It’s an uphill climb, which slows down the trucks in the left lanes.

The magic point is just before the exit and the crest of the hill. Before I-40 starts downhill and the trucks speed up, Morris slips into the left lanes ahead of them.

Next week, a legislative transportation committee will hold a public hearing on whether the state should update its 21-year-old “equity formula” for dividing most road construction money.

A consensus for overhaul seems to be building among urban lawmakers. Rural leaders rebuffed such efforts in the past. But the tide could turn when legislative districts are redrawn after this year’s census to reflect a surge in urban growth since 2000.

DOT officials say transportation spending is not about matching dollars with head counts. It’s about building a network that can move people and goods across the state.

Businesses might be less interested in moving to North Carolina if they can’t get their goods from the Wilmington ports to Raleigh stores, regardless of traffic conditions on the I-40 Beltline, said Greer Beaty, DOT communications director.

“The benefits don’t stop at the county line,” Beaty said. “Our role at DOT is to maintain and enhance the system for the entire state. … What’s good for I-85 in Mecklenburg County is good for I-85 in Durham County. Those are major commercial routes.”

Raleigh’s 540 Outer Loop is a major route, too. But DOT said a few years ago that it would not have enough money to finish building it in the next three decades.

So local drivers will pay tolls to use the next 540 extension when the N.C. Turnpike Authority opens the state’s first modern toll road, the Triangle Expressway. Meanwhile, Raleigh also is spending 7 percent of city property taxes to improve roads that are supposed to be the state’s responsibility.

Wake isn’t getting its fair share because the equity formula reserves too much money for rural areas, Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker says.

“There are no thoroughfare projects being undertaken by DOT in Wake County, and there are none planned,” Meeker said. “Road projects need to be built for roads that are used a lot.”

Charlotte leaders have argued for years that the state’s system of paying for roads shortchanges their city.

“The number one complaint we hear from citizens is congestion,” said Rep. Becky Carney, a Charlotte Democrat and House Transportation Committee chairwoman. “Why aren’t we addressing that?”

Four lanes, 10 miles

The equity formula was created in 1989, under then-Gov. Jim Martin, a Republican, with goals that included ensuring that nearly everyone in the state will live within 10 miles of a four-lane road.

Over the past decade, the county with the fewest people, Tyrrell, has received the most road money per capita. Tyrrell, in Eastern North Carolina, had a population of 4,078 in 2009 and is best known as the last county that Outer Banks-bound travelers pass through before they get to Dare County’s beaches.

Much of Tyrrell County’s big share reflects the expansion of U.S. 64, said Van Argabright, a top project manager at DOT. That project mostly benefits other counties, he said.

“The primary reason you do that is to get people from Raleigh to the Outer Banks,” Arga bright said.

Legislators and governors from both parties have used road building as a lure for economic development.

But Rep. Ric Killian, a Charlotte Republican, said spreading economic development is not state government’s job. The state should provide citizens with security and a sound infrastructure, he said.

“Businesses want to come to an area where employees can buy a house, send their kids to a good school and enjoy the amenities of the community,” he said. “That usually means urban areas, and that won’t change.”

David Hartgen, a retired UNC Charlotte transportation professor, faults both state and city leaders for failing to focus spending priorities on projects that will relieve congestion.

Raleigh and Charlotte planners have earmarked too much of their money for big transit investments that will serve only 1 to 2 percent of their residents, he said.

“The problem is the misallocation of the money we have,” Hartgen said.”

Sen. Clark Jenkins, an Edgecombe County Democrat, doesn’t want to see money taken from rural areas. But he agrees that DOT needs to find new money to reduce congestion in cities.

“The bottom line is we need more money,” said Jenkins, vice-chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. “And it should go into the congested areas.”

[email protected] or 919-829-4774

Money to move (News and Observer Editorial)

Published Thu, Apr 01, 2010 02:00 AM
Modified Thu, Apr 01, 2010 06:37 AM

Cities spawn traffic jams. There is a difference, though, between some modest rush-hour backups and the kind of intolerable congestion that can throw a region’s economy out of whack and generally make life miserable.

It’s not surprising to hear local officials complain that North Carolina’s method of dividing up highway money shortchanges the cities and puts them at risk of gridlock. Mayor Charles Meeker of Raleigh has been making that point consistently for years as the capital has scraped for a larger share of road improvement funds in what amounts to a contest with the hinterlands.

An analysis by The N&O of road spending offers one perspective that supports the urban view. As reported Saturday, the state’s per-capita spending for highway construction and maintenance in Wake County ranks 90th among all 100 counties. On its face, that seems way too low – even though it’s a product of what’s known as the equity formula for road-money distribution. Surely a crowded metropolitan area has road investment needs that are in a reasonable ratio to population size.

Yet it’s not that simple, of course. Rural counties don’t have as many residents, but they are just as dependent on serviceable highway links – in some respects, even more dependent than their urban counterparts. And gauged on a per-capita basis, the cost of a highway project through the countryside is bound to compare unfavorably to the cost of a project in a county such as Wake or Mecklenburg.

North Carolina in years gone by typically saw rural areas flex their political muscles in matters of state spending. Building bigger and better roads was among the most important state services, and legislators made sure their rural constituents weren’t neglected even while the cities were benefitting from new loop highways.

In a state with one of the largest highway systems, roads also became a tool for economic development, ensuring companies access to markets even if they set up shop in small towns. That remains a vital function of the transportation network. Folks who live in a county struggling to hold onto jobs even while traditional manufacturing sectors have withered look to good roads as a lifeline.

So the state Department of Transportation’s perspective on the money-sharing debate is worthwhile. This investment has to be undertaken with an eye toward needs that are truly regional and statewide, as well as addressing conditions that are specific to individual cities. The state’s overall economic health requires clear arteries throughout.

A project like the complete four-laning of U.S. 17 from the Virginia border near South Mills to the South Carolina line near Calabash means significant spending on a roadway through boondocks. It also helps invigorate a large swath of Eastern North Carolina, including towns such as Williamston, Washington and New Bern.

It’s altogether reasonable to scrutinize the 21-year-old equity formula to see if in fact the cities are being cheated. But urban areas can and should benefit from mass transit funding that would be pointless in the rural counties. Wise growth planning also can reduce the need for costly urban road projects.

Is there enough money to go around? Never. But North Carolina can’t bankrupt itself and its taxpayers (or its soon-to-be tollpayers) with the expense of building roads. It has to balance the needs of all its regions. None of them can prosper if others are dying on the vine because people and goods can’t get where they need to go.