THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 8, 1994 TAG: 9407080583
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
A proposal to build an eight-mile, $48.4 million toll bridge across Currituck Sound in northeastern North Carolina apparently has been caught in the tangle of budget negotiations between the House and the Senate this week.
The House Wednesday took the bill off its calendar for debate and referred the proposal to its appropriations committee.
Some legislative observers had speculated that the bill would become a bargaining tool for the House as House and Senate leaders debate differences in the two chambers' budget bills, the toll-bridge bill - a high priority for Senate leader Marc Basnight.
This was denied Thursday by House Speaker Daniel T. Blue, D-Wake, who said the precedent-setting nature of the proposal warranted additional review by the appropriations committee.
That panel will couple its debate over the toll bridge with debate over other toll roads in North Carolina, such as another bypass around Charlotte, Blue said in an interview from his Raleigh office Thursday.
``They'll look at it sometime before we adjourn,'' Blue said.
Wednesday's action puts the fate of the toll bridge directly in the hands of Reps. Martin Nesbitt, Jr., D-Buncombe, and David Diamont, D-Surry - the House's chief budget negotiators - who have been meeting with their Senate counterparts to iron out differences between the House and Senate budgets.
Late last week, the House Finance Committee approved its version of the bill and the proposal moved to the House floor, where it stayed during House and Senate budget negotiations last week.
The House version gives the transportation department the authority to levy a toll of up to $10 for a round-trip over the bridge or $500 for an annual pass for a vehicle.
The House bill also requires the department to report annually to the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee for that panel to review any tolls approved for the bridge.
The Senate version, approved last year, establishes an N.C. Bridge Authority which would be charged with studying ways to speed up construction of the bridge - including levying tolls.
The authority would be charged with establishing fees for travel across the bridge.
If the House approves its version of the bill, differences in the two proposals would have to be resolved before the bill could become law. by CNB