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Since the republicans took control of the General Assembly in 2010, they have virtually declared war on NC's metro areas.
In some ways you may be correct. But I don't see evidence that metro areas are being screwed on road projects for the next 10 years. Without suburban voters, Republicans would not be in a position of control. They know it. The large cities lean irreversibly Democrat and the rural areas (except where African-Americans are majorities) lean irreversibly Republican. There is approximate balance and so elections are won or lost in suburbia. A sure blueprint for Republicans to lose control of the General Assembly is to lose voters in outer Wake County, Johnston, Franklin, etc.
I don't see any evidence that metro areas are being screwed on transportation needs. Rural counties have just as many transportation needs as urban areas well in part because they still are a large majority of the state still.
Yeah, that's one good thing that has come out of the change in political winds from 2010-11. McCrory and Tata came up with something actually close to a data driven formula to allocate transportation funding. And surprise surprise, lots of projects in the area suddenly have a much better outlook.
Haha, sorry no. TriEx is not corporate infrastructure.
Do you have a source claiming different? Otherwise your argument is fairly weak.
TriEx is an administrative organization. If the Gov't had the money to build the roads why not just build them with the money. Instead we have TIFIA bonds and loans, State Bonds, who buys the bonds and gives the loans? Sure it's obfuscated in multiple financial vehicles, but ultimately the money is provided by folks that expect a return on their investment (profit). I would characterize them as corporate interests.
Here is the definition of TIFIA from the GAO.
The TIFIA program’s primary goal is to leverage limited federal resources and stimulate private capital investment in transportation infrastructure by providing credit assistance to projects of national or regional significance."
TriEx is an administrative organization. If the Gov't had the money to build the roads why not just build them with the money. Instead we have TIFIA bonds and loans, State Bonds, who buys the bonds and gives the loans? Sure it's obfuscated in multiple financial vehicles, but ultimately the money is provided by folks that expect a return on their investment (profit). I would characterize them as corporate interests.
Here is the definition of TIFIA from the GAO.
The TIFIA program’s primary goal is to leverage limited federal resources and stimulate private capital investment in transportation infrastructure by providing credit assistance to projects of national or regional significance."
NCDOT didn't have the money for immediate construction of the western 540 and there was political opposition to the suggestion that NCDOT itself should issue bonds -- which would have required a statewide referendum and opened Pandora's box. Thus came the NCTA, which is really no different from the RDU Airport Authority and similar creations of the NC General Assembly which granted them the power to issue bonds in their own names. Later on, day-to-day management of NCTA was merged back into NCDOT. NCTA remains on paper, however, as the legal issuer of the bonds. Any of these state-created, government-controlled entities that issue bonds in their own names are required to prepare financials under terms of the bond covenants but they're still public entities.
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Look at the books for the Turnpike authority. It's run like a business using GAAP on their financials.
