With fatalities rising on America’s roadways, elected leaders in North Carolina are talking about the need to modernize our state’s transportation revenue formula. The NC Chamber has been speaking up about this need for years, and in 2020 we launched a business-driven initiative, Destination 2030: The Road to a Stronger Transportation Future, to pinpoint solutions and urge our leaders act on them. The NC Chamber’s Destination 2030 Coalition, the alliance of job creators working to drive this initiative forward, is holding a series of exclusive virtual gatherings this spring to prepare for action in 2022. If you missed this year’s kickoff conversation on Feb. 18, don’t miss your chance to attend two additional planned meetings – on March 24 and April 20, both at 10 a.m. – by signing up to join your organization to the Destination 2030 Coalition today.

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Recently, the News & Observer published two opinion pieces on the issue of transportation funding – one from Gov. Roy Cooper, the other from North Carolina Sen. Vickie Sawyer.  While they approach the issue from different angles, they both acknowledge what the NC Chamber and the advocates on our Destination 2030 Coalition have long been emphasizing: Change is coming, and North Carolina must shift our transportation funding strategy into a whole new gear if we want to stay out in front of other states and cement our competitiveness for the current century, and beyond.

After those articles ran, NC Chamber President and CEO Gary Salamido released this statement, urging our state’s elected leadership to secure a bipartisan transportation funding model that is durable, equitable, and competitive with other states. Following that, NC Chamber Board Chair Sepi Saidi, PE, of SEPI, Inc., penned this NC Chamber Executive Memo reemphasizing Gary’s statement and sharing her own vision of a future where North Carolina has successfully enacted a funding formula that meets these key criteria.

A modernized transportation funding strategy would mean safer, more reliable roads for North Carolina families, new jobs to boost our workforce and bolster our communities, and stronger, more resilient links between our state and the rest of the global economy. Bold funding solutions are on the table, thank to the efforts of the Destination 2030 Coalition and other aligned groups. The time is now, in 2022, for our leaders to secure a transportation formula that works for our state in the 21st century.