AN ACT TO authorize the department of transportation to use the portion of contract MAINTENANCE RESURFACING funds ALLOCATED to widening EXISTING narrow pavements scheduled for resurfacing to widen any existing narrow pavements and to authorize the department of transportation to use HIGHWAY Trust fund secondary road paving funds allocated to each county for the additional purpose of safety IMPROVEMENTS on paved and unpaved roads in the same county, as recommended by the Joint LEGISLATIVE Transportation Oversight committee.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 136‑44.16 reads as rewritten:
"§ 136‑44.16.  Authorized use of contract maintenance resurfacing program funds.
Of the contract maintenance resurfacing program funds appropriated by the General Assembly to the Department of Transportation, an amount not to exceed fifteen percent (15%) of the Board of Transportation's allocation of these funds may be used for widening existing narrow pavements."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 136‑182 reads as rewritten:
"§ 136‑182. Supplement for secondary road construction.
Funds are allocated from the Trust Fund to increase allocations for secondary road construction made under G.S. 136‑44.2A so that all State‑maintained unpaved secondary roads with a traffic vehicular equivalent of at least 50 vehicles a day can be paved by the  2009-2010 fiscal year. This supplement shall be discontinued when the Department of Transportation certifies that, with funds available from sources other than the Trust Fund, all State‑maintained unpaved secondary roads, regardless of their traffic vehicular equivalent, can be paved during the following six years. If all the State-maintained roads in a county have been paved under G.S. 136-44.7, except those that have unavailable rights-of-way or for which environmental permits cannot be approved to allow for paving, then the funds may be used for safety improvements on the paved or unpaved secondary roads in that county. If the supplement is discontinued before the Trust Fund terminates, the funds that would otherwise be allocated under this section shall be added to the allocation from the Trust Fund for projects of the Intrastate System."

SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 21st day of May, 2003.

	s/	 Beverly E. Perdue
	 President of the Senate

	s/	 Richard T. Morgan
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	s/	 Michael F. Easley
	 Governor

Approved 11:30 a.m. this 31st day of May, 2003