News-Record.com

Gov. Bev Perdue announced earlier this month that she would peruse $300 million to fix the the bridge that carries I-85 over the Yadkin River.

What didn't sink in to me at the time is what an audacious play this is.

There is $1.5 billion set aside for competitive highway grants under the recently-passed stimulus package. No one state is allowed to pull down $300 million of that, which is about one-fifth of the total funding available.

And the Yadkin River Bridge would cost about $300 million to fix, according to N.C. Transportation Sec. Gene Conti.

"This is North Carolina's top priority," Conti told the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees that oversee transportation funding. "If we're given the money this year, we can get that under contract this year."

But with 50 states scrapping for the money, North Carolina is displaying some pretty sharp elbows laying claim to that big of a share.

And Conti told legislators that the state would need a "Plan B" if the stimulus funding doesn't come through. While the bridge is safe enough to travel on for now, it's not in great shape.

"We need to get that bridge taken care of in the near future," Conti said. He wasn't real specific on what "Plan B" might entail, but it could involve spending state dollars or using bonds that are repaid with future federal grant dollars, he said.

Conti was at the legislative building today briefing the honorables on how the state planned to use the $838 million in transportation funding coming to the state from the stimulus bill.

The $466 million in projects Perdue announced Tuesday was the first set of that spending. (More here.)

States have to hit some deadlines for spending the money or it will go back to the feds to be reallocated. Conti said North Carolina was poised to spend its share and then some.

"We're not going to give any of our money to other states, I can tell you that," Conti said.