News 14 Carolina "Triad Area News" - McCrory Talks Transportation in Triad
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News 14 Carolina "Triad Area News" - McCrory Talks Transportation in Triad
Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory was in the Triad on Friday touting his statewide transportation plan.
The Charlotte mayor, speaking in front members of the North Carolina Traffic League, said time is up for officials currently running the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
"We've had an extremely inefficient and politicized state department of transportation," McCrory said. "It has to change."
In his address, McCrory said his opponent, Democrat Beverly Perdue, the current lieutenant governor, had connections with Louis Sewell, who recently resigned from the state board of transportation after reports that he secured thousands of dollars for projects near properties he or his son co-owned in Jacksonville.
In an interview Thursday night, Perdue told News 14 Carolina that she also plans to make changes at the DOT if she's elected.
"The whole system needs to be changed," she said. "I intend to do that as governor of North Carolina. I actually did not know he was going to resign, but I respect his decision and applaud the fact that he did resign if that's what he thinks his best for him."
McCrory also talked about his 50-year transportation plan should he become governor; one that he says anticipates growth, not reacts to it.
"The congestion studies show where the future congestion will be and that's where we need to do future planning," he said.
McCrory said he wants new roads, rail, land use and sidewalks across the state but he says there will be requirements to building new roads should he get the state's top spot. One will be safety. He pointed out the Yadkin River Bridge, considered the most dangerous in the Southeast, which he said "needs to be widened and repaired ASAP."
The Perdue campaign responded with the following statement, "Under his leadership, Charlotte has the second most congested roads in the country and transportation projects repeatedly bust their budgets."
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