Can't We All Just Get Along?

Looks like the "my highway loop should be done first" battle between Charlotte and Fayetteville is heating up even more in light of transportation dollars becoming a bit more scarce.

"Limited funding and political heat are putting the squeeze on a $270 million expansion of Fayetteville’s Interstate 295.

The project is now postponed indefinitely. And if Charlotte-area transportation officials get their wish, the president of the United States will issue an executive order to stop funding for the loop until an investigation determines whether federal highway dollars are properly allocated."

...

"Ever since the N.C. Board of Transportation approved Fayetteville’s outer-loop funding in November, complaints of favoritism have left state transportation officials defending how the project was approved. (Tony) Rand, the Senate Democratic majority leader, and state Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett are from Fayetteville."

...

"Meanwhile, Charlotte transportation officials have raised questions about whether politics played a role in funding the Fayetteville loop.

Lee Myers, chairman of the Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization, wrote a letter to Obama earlier this month. In it, he pointed out that traffic counts on I-485 are at 120,000 vehicles already, while I-295 is not expected to reach 30,000 vehicles daily until 2020. Myers criticized the way I-295 was approved.

“It seems rather suspect that the person making the announcement and other high-ranking people are from Fayetteville,” Myers said.

Asked if he was referring to Rand, Myers said, “He’s pretty high ranking.”

...

"State Sen. Tony Rand offered a sarcastic and terse response, saying he is infuriated by the request that President-elect Barack Obama freeze federal highway funding for the entire state to help Charlotte get money for its loop.

“We’ve got a war in Iraq, a war in Afghanistan, and the economy is going to hell,” Rand said. “But I’m sure that Charlotte’s whining about that will take precedence. I hope he stops everything he’s doing and takes care of Charlotte.”

Comments

[Michael]

How about deny them both and finish the Raleigh 540 and Triad loops instead!