Transportation

The federal government works with North Carolina to maintain and improve all modes of transportation from highway and rail to airports and seaports.  Congress authorizes and funds the U.S. Department of Transportation, which works with North Carolina Department of Transportation, to build and maintain our infrastructure and improve safety.

Congress must continue working to find solutions to transportation challenges.  Dwindling sources of fossil fuels, rising gas prices, increasing transportation demand, and an outdated tax structure to fund transportation are some of the many difficulties we now face.  Congress is seeking ways to find long-term, sustainable answers to these dilemmas.      

Our current system is not sustainable because it depends on dwindling fossil fuels to power our modes of transportation.  Currently, fuel taxes provide most of the funding for transportation infrastructure, but those tax revenues are decreasing as we become more fuel efficient.  As we continue to promote efficiency and look for new ways to keep our infrastructure state-of-the art, I recently supported a long-term extension of funding for surface transportation, which is the first time Congress passed a long-term surface transportation bill since 2009.  I also introduced the H.R. 5713, Talk Before You Toll Act, which would ensure that the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) fully consider public opposition to tolling of Interstate 95 in North Carolina. This legislation is in response to the concerns that I share with many people in my district, that tolling would be too great of a burden on working families. This was a critical step toward ensuring the voices of North Carolinians are heard before the state makes a unilateral decision to toll I-95.