News

Earlier this year we formally commenced our letter writing campaign to secure increased federal funding for a new runway at RDU.

This is a cooperative initiative in concert with The Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina and the Triangle-J Council of Governments, along with several of our member chambers of commerce.

While sustainable funding for RDU remains our highest organizational priority — funding for surface transportation is increasingly vital, particularly given the accelerated growth trajectory of our market.

Later this month, at the NC Chamber Transportation and Infrastructure summit, I will be speaking of several priorities — including our ongoing focus of a vehicle registration-based access user fee option as a simpler, fair, and sustainable way of ensuring funding and reducing risk for our streets and roadways.

The regional business community continues to promote a vehicle registration-based “access” user fee for cars and light trucks as a resilient solution to help modernize the highway revenue business model for North Carolina.

Implementation of the access user fee concept for all vehicles is straightforward. North Carolina would simply raise the existing electric vehicle fee to align with what the average driver pays in fuel taxes …  and then charge all vehicles that same “access fee” amount, on an annual or monthly basis, while simultaneously eliminating state fuel taxes.

While RTA is elevating the potential of access fee-based approach as a potential part of a future solution package, the regional business community remains open to any solution or package of solutions that will be fair, sustainable, and acceptable.

Over the next several months we will be elevating the need for both modernizing and increasing funding of roads and streets, while simultaneously focusing on a reimagining of some of our priorities to accelerate congestion relief benefits, minimize impacts to our communities and the environment, and reduce costs.

More to come.

Let’s get moving,

Joe Milazzo II, PE
RTA Executive Director

RTA is the voice of the regional business community on transportation

www.letsgetmoving.org
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