MUMPO leader offers ways to fund both I-485 and Independence Blvd construction

Lee Myers, who chairs the Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization (MUMPO), recently wrote a letter to North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue with suggestions on how the state can fund both the completion of Interstate 485 and continue the upgrading of Independence Blvd.

Myers wrote to Governor Perdue suggesting various ways to fund both projects and get them done as quickly as possible. The sources would include - current funds allocated for the projects, money from the second wave of funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, bond money, and moving funding from other projects within the state.

Lee asks the Governor to "think outside the box" in coming up with funding sources to complete both projects. This is the second letter that Myers has written to Governor Perdue and Secretary of Transportation Eugene Conti in regards to using stimulus funds for I-485.

In a letter dated, April 30, 2009, Myers wrote that though MUMPO voted to use stimulus funds on other projects in the region (including an NC 73 project in Huntersville), the organization was open to using stimulus funds for I-485 if the Governor and NCDOT showed that they had "...a viable funding plan for I-485...that requires the use of [stimulus] funds."

In that letter, Lee stated that this would be readdressed in July - given that the Governor and NCDOT would show that they could build I-485 without delaying another project.

Myers states in his current letter that moving money from other projects would not delay them but only impact the timing the funds are received.

Story:
Local leaders press governor on I-485 ---WCNC-TV w/video

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