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Can NC Afford to Lose $1.2 Billion and 15,000 Jobs?

| Infrastructure

As their August recess approaches, Congress continues negotiations around a long-term transportation funding bill to address the Highway Trust Fund’s dwindling coffers, which threaten to slow or even stop big construction projects across the country this summer. Earlier this year, in a letter to each member of the North Carolina Congressional Delegation, 28 chambers of commerce underlined the critical importance of developing a long-term surface transportation bill to follow the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), which expires at the end of September 2014. Failure to reauthorize MAP-21 would cost North Carolina an estimated $1.2 billion and put more than 15,000 jobs at risk. Without a substantial boost in federal highway funding, more than 100 projects to improve the condition and expand the capacity of North Carolina’s roads, highways and bridges will not be able to proceed, hampering the state’s ability to improve the condition of its transportation system and to enhance economic development opportunities in the state.

The North Carolina Chamber urges Congress to act now to develop a long-term surface transportation bill that strengthens our state’s and nation’s infrastructure and provides our economy with the support it needs to remain a global economic leader.

Gary J. Salamido
Vice President, Government Affairs
North Carolina Chamber