While the $500,000 cap on light rail spending that was mysteriously placed in the state budget last year has been removed from this year’s spending proposal, it has been replaced by another cap.

The newly-agreed-to budget that was released late Monday includes a provision that caps state funding on light rail projects at 10 percent of the overall project cost.

The initial House budget proposal lifted the spending cap entirely, but the Senate included the 10 percent cap in its plan, which ultimately made its way into the final proposal.

That directly impacts the Durham – Orange Light Rail Project, which has a projected cost of $1.6 billion with 25 percent of that funding projected to come from the state.

While GoTriangle had been “optimistic” the cap would be removed, it’s unclear what its placement in the budget means for the overall viability of the 17-mile project that would connect Durham and Chapel Hill.

GoTriangle general manager Jeff Mann released the following statement on the cap:

“We are disappointed by the new, restrictive light rail and commuter rail provisions inserted this legislative session that compromise the integrity of the data-driven transportation funding law passed in 2013, and create new funding and delivery challenges for the Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit Project (DOLRT). The DOLRT project is critical transportation infrastructure that will move about 23-thousand people a day along a heavily congested 17-mile corridor, while creating thousands of new jobs and adding $175 Million in annual state and local tax revenue.

GoTriangle is currently evaluating all options and we will continue working with Durham and Orange County residents, our partners and the General Assembly to identify funding for the Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit Project. We appreciate the hard work of our many project supporters, who understand that the DOLRT project will better connect all neighborhoods in the corridor to education; healthcare, including the Veterans hospital; and jobs, including direct access to three of the state’s top ten employers.”

The two North Carolina Congressional representatives who serve the districts that would house the light rail line – Democrats David Price and G.K. Butterfield – released the following statement over the spending cap:

“We are deeply disappointed that the Republican General Assembly leadership is once again standing in the way improving and increasing transit options in the Triangle. The Triangle’s rapid growth increases demand on our region’s transportation infrastructure and has prompted residents of Durham and Orange Counties to vote in support of new transit alternatives that will make it easier to get to work, to school, or to hospitals and other health care facilities. By reneging on the state’s commitment to transit in the Triangle, the Republican General Assembly threatens to forgo billions in federal funding, undercuts the will of Triangle residents, and undermines the rigorous cost-benefit analysis that is the basis for the project. Once again our state’s Republican leaders are leaving North Carolinians worse off because of their narrow-minded political motivations.”

The budget proposal will be voted on in the House and Senate in the coming days before going to the governor’s desk.

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