Department of Transportation hiring freeze

The North Carolina Department of Transportation is concerned over the federal funds they receive. The money from the government comes from a trust fund that gets its money from gasoline tax.

According to the Department of Transportation., because of alternative fuel sources, the fund does not have enough revenue coming in. Due to the funding uncertainty, the Department of Transportation has a freeze on hiring new employees, leaving 80 positions currently vacant.

Allen Pope, North Carolina Department of Transportation Division Engineer said “What I’ll have to do is take some of my permanent employees and train them to operate those bridges which means I may have to lose some other things whether it’s regular maintenance items to actually fill that need.”

Pope said Congress has passed a bill making $8 billion available to the Department of Transportation, but if that money is not passed by the President they may have to delay a couple of projects slated to start in 2009.