The Research Triangle area of North Carolina has a problem. Like most modern metropoli, traffic is out of hand. A commuter rail-way was proposed, and has become one of the primary plans to help alleviate this problem. It would be handled by the
Triangle Transit Authority which has already done wonders for bus services in the area.
The plan entails constructing a railway that would go from downtown Raleigh, through NC State University, through the massive suburb Cary, past RDU airport, past IBM's headquaters in RTP, and ending in downtown Durham. The original plan called for completion by 2008.
The original plan called for 60% of the funding to come from the Federal Government, which has funded such projects in the past. Such was not to be.
The local news is now
reporting that the Federal Transit Administration rejected funding the project. It's not to clear, yet, what exactly went wrong. But I've little doubt that if Dole had spent a little less time mis-managing the SRCC and a little more time lobbying on behalf of her states capitol, we'd have a rail line by 2009.
Remember this, come 2008. NC is not a lost cause. Dole hasn't missed an opportunity to fail us, yet.