Road Conditions Deteriorate in NC
Meghan Grady, Staff Writer
Road conditions in North
Carolina are growing increasingly
bad as each year passes, and the
snow and ice that was dropped,
across the state during the past few
months has not helped with road
'condition issues. Such wintery pre
cipitation has lead to the increased
development of potholes which
are the result of water seeping into
cracks in the road and then ex
panding when temperatures lower
and the water freezes. This expan
sion pushes outward, thus creating
a hole beneath the surface. Follow
ing the snow, the DOT requested
that motorists contact them in
order to pinpoint the worst pot
holes and to allow the process of
restoration.
~ The roadways are in dire
need of repairs. However, along
with repairs follows a rather large '
price tag, and frankly the funds are
just not in the budget. There have
been discussions that Interstate
95 may need the most work of all.
As Bruce Siceloff of the News and
Observer puts it, I-95 has become
“a 182-mile-long pothole from
Virginia to South Carolina.” For
those of yoii who travel this road,
you can probably attest to this
statement. It is estimated that I-95
repairs would cost around $5 bil
lion dollars. This cost factors in the
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addition of two lanes both ways, as
well as means to raise bridges that
pose a threat to large trucks from
the Virginia to the South Carolina
border. A suggestion for raising
funds would be to add tollbooths
at each end in order to collect
money from out of state visitors
and residents that frequent the
highway. This plan is a possibility
but legislature changes are a re
quirement. As for now, repairs are
being done in the areas with the
greatest need, and plans to create
a toll bootli infrastructure have
not been instated.
Not only are these road-
needs costing the state of North
Carolina money, they are also div
ing into the wallets of the North
Carolinians that travel them. A
report from TRIP, a group of con
struction engineers, estimates that
the cost to motorists is around
$ 1350 per person. They allotted *
$733 for time wasted in traf
fic delays, $238 for damage
and accidents, and $379 for
maintenance on vehicles due
to the roads. They account
the worsening conditions
to the population spike in
North Carolina since 1990,
which have led to increased
travel on roads that have
not seen increased repair
funding. The NC legislature will
have to find the funds to improve
roads—hopefully without pricey
dips into citizen pockets. And in
the meanwhile, take caution to
these conditions when traveling
the roadways.
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