I-40 Widening Shot Down (Officially)

The finalized 2006-2012 Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) was released yesterday.

Link

No surprise...the I-40 widening was shot down, and is only programmed for construction in "post years", meaning "some time after 2012". What an outrage!

The thing that really gets me is that they had the nerve to put in the following statement at the beginning of the document:

"The projects in the TIP reflect the voices of our citizens. During the development of this plan, NCDOT held a series of meetings across the state to gater public input. The 2006-2012 tim will help us fulfill Governor Mike Easley's vision for One North Carolina - a state where every community matters and every individual counts."

Yeah, right. Every individual counts? Why is it then that not a single one of the DOT meetings was scheduled in the Traingle Region? The closest was in Rocky Mount. I'll tell you why, beacuse the Traingle is where they took away over $300 million in funding for critical road projects and the DOT was AFRAID to hold a meeting here. Consequently, they scheduled it an hour away to minimize turnout.

The DOT obviuosly does not care about the needs of the driving public in the Triangle Region. Supposedly, the funding was reallocated to rural areas to be more equitable. Screw the rural areas, I say. The Traingle generates far more tax revenue than these areas, and that money should stay here. To neglect our own area for the sake of rural county "X" makes no sense whatsoever.

Great job, DOT. Maybe in 2012, traffic will be stopped all the way to Durham along I-40 due to your incompetence. I hope you take joy in the fact that you are responsible for not only serious traffic delays, but also the deaths of innocent motorists that could have been prevented.