Senate Republican Leader
Senator Phil Berger
26th Senatorial District
Phone Number: (919) 733-5708
North Carolina Senate
Room 1026, Legislative Building
Raleigh, NC 27601 

Senate and House members of North Carolina’s General Assembly met Tuesday for the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee.  The primary order of business was the status of the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) efforts to implement recommendations from management consultant McKinsey and Co.  The DOT commissioned a study by McKinsey at a cost of $3.6 million; that study has previously been widely criticized because of the cloak of secrecy surrounding the contract with McKinsey and the consultants’ recommendations.  No representative of McKinsey presented information at Tuesday’s meeting.  Long-time DOT observers have complimented the recommendations apparently made by McKinsey, but have questioned why DOT officials had not, on their own, made similar changes.  DOT has been criticized by multiple sources for its role in the deteriorating state of North Carolina’s transportation infrastructure.    

Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) made the following statement:

“People have been concerned about the state of our roads’ system.  The Department of Transportation has received numerous recommendations from sources, including many Republicans, about ways to return North Carolina to its status as the ‘Good Roads State.’  None of those recommendations have been followed thanks in large part to long-standing Democrat control of the department and bureaucratic inertia.  Now the department has hired consultants who have apparently provided to the DOT the same recommendations that have previously been suggested by others.

“I am pleased that the department is finally paying attention to things that have been recommended to improve our transportation infrastructure.  I believe the department is finally headed in the right direction in terms of making improvements that will be seen by the people of North Carolina over time; however, I am concerned that the department spent almost $4 million and commissioned a secret report in order to come to this point. 

“Republicans in the General Assembly have long-advocated a reformulation of the equity formula for distribution of transportation funds; we have felt that the need to address congestion in many parts of the state should be taken into account in the allocation of resources.  Those suggestions have not been heeded until after this study was made.  The McKinsey consultants have also proposed a reorganization of the Department of Transportation with a focus on a common mission statement and goals.  They, correctly, suggest that would make the department better able to focus on needs and for planning for the future rather than reacting in a crisis mode. 

“The study by McKinsey has been a top to bottom review of all functions in the Department of Transportation.  This is nothing new from what has been suggested by Republicans for a number of years and is similar to proposals for zero based budgeting of the departments.  Another reform that has been recommended is for transportation and accountability at the Department of Transportation at every level. 

“North Carolina’s transportation bureaucracy is in desperate need of reform.  The overall condition of our transportation infrastructure continues to deteriorate and has not kept up with the needs of a growing state.  At this point, most people are asking why the Department of Transportation required the expenditure of $3.6 million to consultants in order to do those things that any objective observer would have recommended the department address over the last several months.  It is past time for the Department of Transportation to cut through the red tape and, instead, utilize the tax dollars provided to the department to address the road needs of our State.”

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