North Carolina's roads and bridges are among the worst in the country.

According to a study by The Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank based in Los Angeles, the state ranks 48th in urban interstate congestion and 41st in deficient bridges. The state also ranked 29th for fatalities per miles driven.

About 70 percent of urban interstates in North Carolina were rated as congested, while 31 percent of the bridges were deemed structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.

The co-chairman of transportation advocacy group N.C. Go! said the anniversary of a bridge collapse in Minnesota is a reminder of the need to invest in infrastructure.

"North Carolina is falling further and further behind," said Berry Jenkins. "Our bridges are aging out of usefulness and safety faster than we can pay to repair or replace them." (WS-N)

Nine groups spent $757,926 soliciting state legislators last year.

According to a compilation of reports filed with the N.C. Secretary of State, three-fourths of the money was spent by the Partnership for North Carolina's Future.

Launched in May of 2007, the group spent $588,441 advocating on growth issues such as open space, water and sewer needs, traffic congestion and housing.

Solicitation is different from lobbying in that it seeks to connect members of the public with lawmakers to influence their votes using such things as Web sites and direct-mail campaigns.

Major spenders included groups that work on growth issues.

The Home Builders Association of Raleigh-Wake County, an industry group, spent $71,340 on solicitation. N.C. Go, which works on transportation issues, spent $32,927. The N.C. Homeowners Alliance, which opposed the transfer tax, spent $19,554.

The remaining groups worked on a variety of issues.

The Coalition for Persons Disabled by Mental Illness spent $19,698. The Alliance for Digital Equality, which advocates for minorities on telecommunications issues, spent $14,676. Dix 306, a group of business and community leaders advocating for the Dorothea Dix hospital property in Raleigh to become a major urban park, spent $8,068.

And Return America, a Judeo-Christian group that opposes same-sex marriage and abortion, spent $3,219.

Other groups may also have spent money. Under state law, advocacy groups only have to file solicitation reports if they spend more than $3,000 on it in a 90-day period.

N.C. Go says Gov. Mike Easley's proposed budget is sound.

The coalition of transportation advocates praises proposals to phase out the transfer of money from the Highway Trust Fund, starting with a $25 million reduction the first year.

"In 1989, when the transfer originated it was a sensible proposal, helping to hold harmless funds previously directed to the General Fund," vice chairman Berry Jenkins said in a statement. "Since that time, the General Fund has grown while the Highway Trust Fund – and most other transportation funding – has remained virtually flat."

The group argues that transportation revenue should be spent on transportation projects.

On a separate issue, the coalition says the state should undo the cap on the state gas tax, which Easley has recommended leaving in place.

Five candidates for N.C. governor agreed Tuesday that they don't like transportation bureaucracy.

They spoke at a transportation conference in Cary sponsored by NC Go!, a group backed by transportation contractors that lobbies the state to spend more money on transportation, David Ingram reports.

"The bureaucracy that has to make every decision in Raleigh is antiquated," said Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, a Democrat, adding that DOT's bureaucracy "needs to be totally reconfigured."

State Sen. Fred Smith of Clayton, a Republican and chief executive of a paving contractor, said DOT's job should be to build roads, "not to elect politicians." He added, "We need the people and the leadership to make sure that we use our money the right way."

N.C. DOT has been a frequent political target in recent months after an external audit called the agency poorly managed and too political.

Also Tuesday, Salisbury lawyer and Republican Bill Graham called the agency a "Soviet-style-managed organization."

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, a Republican, said the state has "an organizational process set up for failure." Former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, a Republican, reiterated his proposal to strip the Board of Transportation of its power.

State Treasurer Richard Moore, a Democrat, did not attend the conference.

Transportation boosters didn't get a penny of the new money they'd hoped for in the House and Senate budget proposals, but they invited legislators to breakfast anyway.

N.C. Go, a lobby arm for transit agencies, construction businesses and civic groups, made a final pitch for more money Wednesday in testimony before a House committee, Bruce Siceloff reports.

Earlier that morning, over eggs and jelly biscuits, the co-chairs of the legislature's Joint Transportation Oversight Committee told the group there was no agreement on what the state needs for road and transit improvements — and little appetite for new transportation taxes.

Sen. Clark Jenkins, a Tarboro Democrat, noted that Gov. Mike Easley rejected a prediction from his own Department of Transportation that the state would fall $65 billion short of its transportation needs in the next 25 years.

Rep. Nelson Cole, a Reidsville Democrat, said drivers can expect to see plenty of toll-financed projects in coming years.

"We've got to go to toll roads in a bigger way than we've ever anticipated," Cole said. "It's unfortunate, but we do."

More after the jump.

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