Garden Parkway could
face another House vote
5/6/2013
Garden Parkway gets
legislative reprieve
5/6/2013
West of the Airport,
Charlotte’s Final Frontier
Ripe for Development
5/5/2013
Lawmakers Struggle with
Red Route
5/5/2013
If not the Garden Parkway,
what will have an impact
on our economy?
5/3/2013
Lawmakers debate outlook
of Gaston toll road
5/3/2013
Refusing Garden Parkway
will lose opportunity for
Gaston County
5/2/2013
House Panel Gives New
Life to Garden Parkway
5/2/2013
You Decide how NC
Should Fund Toll Roads
5/1/2013
Gaston Regional Chamber
steps up push for Garden
Parkway
4/5/2013
NC senators push for
tolls on all ferries,
including Hatteras
4/5/2013
Garden Parkway dealt
another blow in Raleigh
3/26/2013
TriEx and Red Route fate
tied to other toll road projects
3/14/2013
Economic Impact of
the Garden Parkway
5/4/2012
Letter: If Garden Parkway
is rejected, funds
will be spent elsewhere
5/1/2012
Garden Parkway offers
country's best chance to
spur economic growth
4/23/2012
Gaston's Largest Business
Organization Renews
Support of Parkway!
4/17/2012
Nine Alternatives
is just not accurate!
3/20/2012
Driving Jobs: It’s our turn
for an Apple or Target!
3/16/2012
Garden Parkway:
Driving JOBS for Gaston!
3/11/2012
NC Turnpike Authority Receives
Federal Approval of Garden
Parkway Route
3/1/2012
Nine Alternatives is just not accurate!
The editorial labeled Nine Alterative ways to spend the money was dead wrong on every account. What is true? There are 9 other regional Loop Projects licking their chops for our money! If you don’t use the money allocated for the construction of the Garden Parkway, Gaston County loses it.
The General Assembly created the NC Turnpike Authority, now a division of the NC Dept. of Transportation, as an agency strategically designed to provide alternative funding for construction of major highway projects. The General Assembly also provided a dedicated source of revenue from the Highway Trust Fund to help repay the debt service on cost of constructing these large Turnpike projects. The amount from the Trust Fund allocated to the Garden Parkway is $35 million for the life of the bonds – approximately 35 years. State statutes are quite specific that these funds can only be used for debt retirement for this project and nothing else. If they are not used for this project they are returned to the Highway Trust and awarded instead to other Highway projects elsewhere in the state. It’s important to note that these are not discretionary, General Fund dollars earmarked for Gaston County. The fact is, they are in no way available to be used for any of the Nine Alternatives suggested in the letter to the editor from Candidate McKoy that was published in the Gaston Gazette on March 16, 2012.
Gaston County’s loss will be another county’s gain and our tax dollars will still be paying for another road that will send jobs out of Gaston County.
It is simple, you can support bringing new industry to Gaston or sending it to one of the nine areas asking for our money; Asheville, Charlotte, Durham, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Greenville, Raleigh, Wilmington, and Winston-Salem.
Bob Clay
NC Turnpike Authority Board Member
Originally published on 3/20/12 by the Gaston Gazette




