DOT: Maintaining state highways is top priority; construction and maintenance take bulk of highway funds

Chairman Wozniak convened the Appropriations - Government Operations Division committee when Mike Garrett, deputy director for the North Dakota Department of Transportation, reviewed the department’s budget priorities under the North Dakota Century Code and explained how federal and special funds are distributed.

Garrett said the department’s first priority under the cited statute is “the maintaining of the state highway system,” and argued that maintaining existing roads is less expensive than replacing them. He told the committee that the DOT’s budget is “very complicated,” with federal funds targeted mainly to the construction program and grants, while special (nonfederal) funds are distributed across programs including construction and road maintenance.

The testimony established the rough scale and distribution of funds: Garrett said special funds were “looking at 1,150,000,000.00, which includes the SIFT requests,” and that of that amount roughly $880,000,000 are specific to construction programs and road maintenance. He described nonfederal dollars as about 55% to construction and 22% to road maintenance; he said 93% of federal dollars go to construction.

Why it matters: those…