N.C. highway spending cut by $50 million

North Carolina state officials, reacting to declining tax revenue, are cutting the state’s transportation and road-building budget by $50 million, but they said that number could rise to $200 million for the year.

Last week, Lyndo Tippett, the state’s transportation secretary, cut spending by 6%. The reductions have not caused delays on highway construction projects, but Tippett told the Charlotte Observer “in the long term, it will.”

The cuts include a continued hiring freeze that Tippett first ordered last month in response to a temporary delay in federal funding. The department is also eliminating travel and training expenses and holding off on equipment purchases.

“We’re shooting the birds on the ground that are already sitting there,” Tippett told the Charlotte Observer.

Earlier in the week, department officials announced the cutting of overtime for Division of Motor Vehicle offices.

The state’s gas tax collections have declined as people drive less because of rising gas prices. The gas tax used to rise with the price of gas, but it was capped at 29.9 cents per gallon two years ago by legislators.

Highway construction costs have doubled since 2002.