Transportation issues have been very much on the minds of Wilmington officials this week as they attend the National League of Cities Congressional City Conference in Washington, D.C.
Among those issues, according to Mike Kozlosky, executive director of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, are the need for another Cape Fear River bridge crossing, identifying funds for the Hampstead Bypass, relocating CSX rail lines that now pass through Wilmington to a rail line that would cross the Cape Fear River to reach the Port of Wilmington, and the proposed Interstate 74 project.
In addition to Kozlosky, Wilmington attendees are mayor Bill Saffo, city council members Margaret Haynes, Laura Padgett and Charlie Rivenbark.
They met this week with transportation staff from the offices of N.C. Sens. Richard Burr and Tom Tillis, U.S. Reps. David Rouzer and Walter Jones, as well as with U.S. DOT assistant secretary for policy Carlos Monje and other members of U.S. Department of Transportation staff.
“We had a very good conversation with them,” Kozlosky said Wednesday of the DOT meeting. “They understand our issues. We talked about three things: challenges, projects and opportunities. A lot of it is, how do we all work together?”
One discussion topic was improving the transportation regulatory process so that small projects could follow a more streamlined process than that currently required for all projects, regardless of size, said Kozlosky, who is also the MPO's senior transportation planner. “That’s what we’d like to see," he said, "to provide that opportunity to put projects on the ground quicker, to improve the project delivery."
Regarding the region's priority projects, Kozlosky said the Wilmington group wanted to make sure that it was included in any funding measure, whether at the federal or the state level. Pender County Board of Commissioners chairman David Williams has earlier expressed his disappointment about the Hampstead Bypass being cut from the state's project list and is working with North Carolina legislators to see if it can be included if Gov. Pat McCrory is successful in getting $1 billion in funding for projects around the state.
The larger problem, Kozlosky said Wednesday, is the fact that Congress has yet to pass a long-term transportation bill.
"That's one of the things Congress will be dealing with over the next few months," he said. "Congress has passed several continuing resolutions, which now go until May 31. A priority of the MPO is a longer transportation bill that would provide some stability for transportation funding."
In addition to transportation, topics at the conference ranged from affordable housing and immigration reform to resilience planning, municipal bonds and public safety, according to the conference website. At Monday’s opening session, president Barack Obama spoke about a new program to train more people for high-paying technology jobs – part of an effort to counteract continuing wage stagnation.
