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N.C. Highway Bonds <br /> <br />· Funding is to accelerate <br /> planned highway projects <br /> throughout North. <br /> Carolina. <br /> <br />$150 million for Secondary Roads <br />Construction <br />$300 million for Intrastate Projects <br />$500 million for Urban Loops <br /> <br />· The highway bonds will <br /> not increase taxes. <br /> <br />Repayment for the bonds will be made <br />from the existing Highway Trust <br />Fund. <br /> <br />· The bonds will make <br /> highways safer. <br /> <br />North Carolina's highway fatality rate <br />is above the national average. In 199~, <br />the number of vehicle crashes and <br />injuries were the highest in history, <br />number of highway fatalities was the <br />most in six years. The vast majority of <br />serious traffic accidents occur on two- <br />lane roads. Nearly all the intrastate <br />highways to be widened with bonds <br />have high accident rates. <br /> <br />· Highways will be <br /> completed sooner. <br /> <br />Paving of a total of 1,200 miles of <br />secondary roads in all counties will be <br />finished one to three years earlier, <br />getting 20,000 families out of the dust <br />and mud. Segments of intrastate <br /> <br />projects will be completed at least one <br />year earlier and, in some cases, six <br />years early. Major Urban Loops <br />segments will be completed up to five <br />years earlier. Bonds will have a <br />positive ripple effect on all highway <br />construction. <br /> <br />· The highway bonds will <br /> save taxpayers $93 <br /> million. <br /> <br />The General Assembly's Fiscal <br />Research Division conservatively <br />estimates that the bonds will save the <br />state about $93 million. Savings come <br />from buying land earlier than <br />scheduled and from avoiding inflation <br />for construction materials and wages. <br /> <br />· N.C.'s highways are 5th <br /> most congested in nation. <br /> Bonds will help reduce <br /> congestion. <br /> <br />North Carolina's major urban roads <br />are the fifth most congested, ranking <br />only behind New Jersey, New York, <br />Connecticut and Hlinois and higher <br />than Michigan and California. In the <br />last 10 years traffic in North Carolina <br />has increased by 50%. <br /> <br />For additional information: <br />N.C. Partnership for Schools and <br />Roads, 919-836-1400 <br /> <br /> <br />