Murphy – Several N.C. Department of Transportation projects, including two that are local, will be delayed due to a combination of issues that have impacted the state agency’s financial situation.
The budget issues will not impact projects that have already begun, such as the widening of U.S. 64 West between the Hiawassee Street intersection and Cook’s Carpet at the top of the hill.
However, a project to widen the roadway from U.S. 64 west of Hayesville to east of N.C. 141 will be delayed. Additionally, a project to widen U.S. 19/129 from the Georgia state line to U.S. 64/74 will be delayed due to financial issues.
“Last summer, we started reducing hiring, reducing our expenditures, slowing down projects and slowing down maintenance activities,” DOT Division 14 engineer Brian Burch said. “We saw that our expenditures from building projects and maintaining roads were exceeding revenues.”
The DOT earns revenue from three main sources: gas taxes, DMV fees and highway use tax. Officials say most of the department’s revenue is derived from the fuel tax, which took a hit when people started working from home due to COVID-19.
“We saw a reduction in the amount of traffic on our highways close to 50 percent,” Burch said. “When you take that amount of fuel usage out of that revenue stream, it really hurts us. Traffic is coming back, but not like before.
“If COVID continues into next year, they may have to revise the [state transportation improvement program] again.”
COVID-19, however, simply exacerbated an already strenuous budget. The DOT has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to repair damage caused by storms that took place from 2017-19. Officials say repairs related to storms that happened during that time are still ongoing.
“From about 2004-16, annual storm costs were about $66 million,” Burch said, explaining that costs for storm repairs have increased more than threefold in recent years. “But from 2017-19 the average storm costs were about $227 million a year. We’re spending quite a bit of money on storm events.”
The DOT also has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to resolve lawsuits related to the Map Act. Officials say those payouts continue and further strain the agency’s financial
situation.
Earlier this month, federal officials announced that the DOT received $144 million in redistributed funds from the Federal Highway Administration’s uncommitted budget. State officials say the money will certainly improve the DOT’s cash balance, but will not change the fact that several projects must be delayed.
“These [FHWA] funds will be used on existing federal aid eligible projects,” Burch said. “Each year we expect to receive the federal redistribution funds, so these are accounted for in our forecast.”
Officials are in the process of revising the STIP, which outlines the timeline and budgets for all state transportation projects. Officials expect to present the document for approval next month.
Burch said all active construction projects in Murphy are moving along according to plan without issues. He also said some of the rumors regarding bridge work near Peachtree Street are not based in reality.
“The Hoover Bridge (U.S. 64/74 over the Hiwassee River) is not having issues with environmental concerns,” he said. “The initial lane closures were to perform the substructure (under the bridge) repairs/activities, and the closures were temporarily removed once those were completed.
“The lane closures in today are for hydro-demolition and latex overlay of the travel lanes. The latex overlay activities should be completed in a couple of weeks. We
still have a few more substructure repairs to make, so the lane closures will continue until the end of October.”