By Tom Roussey - bio l email
CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - For decades, folks around hear have blamed a so-called Down East Democratic good old boys' network for keeping Charlotte from getting its share of road money.
Tuesday night the good old boys got thrown out of power.
For the first time in more than a century Republicans will control both the North Carolina House and Senate.
"There's a general consensus that the whole funding formula needs to be looked at," said Republican state representative Thom Tillis, whose name is being mentioned for speaker of the house.
Tillis promises a more open process in the past. As an example of something that won't happen under Republicans' watch, he talked about when Fayetteville's loop suddenly leapfrogged I-485 in priority a couple years ago.
Fayetteville just happened to have powerful state senator Tony Rand representing it.
"Maybe it's only a coincidence, but it just seemed like certain geographies which correlated to people who had been in power for quite some time, tended to benefit more," Tillis said. "That's wrong. We've got to do better than that."
Tillis said he wants to take a look at the "equity formula," which critics say gives too much money to rural areas while not giving enough to urban areas like Charlotte.
He also says new ways have to be found to pay for road projects because the state is billions of dollars behind what it needs for them.
Tillis gave some credit to Democratic governor Beverly Perdue and the Democratic state legislature of the last two years for starting to move things in the right direction.
For instance, after struggling to keep a pledge to get 485 done faster, Perdue used a never-before-tried funding method to make it happen.
Projects to widen I-85 in Cabarrus County and Independence Blvd. in East Charlotte are also getting underway.
A spokesperson with the NC DOT says the Perdue administration specifically instructed the DOT to work closely with the Charlotte area to help meet its big transportation needs.
It has not erased decades of mistrust of Raleigh yet, but Tillis says it's a start, and is a trend he hopes to continue when Republicans take over the reigns.
