The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act came along just as traditional revenues for new roadwork were drying up in North Carolina and road lettings were being reduced to a small fraction of recent levels.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation has between only $15 million and $20 million available monthly for traditional lettings. That’s down 75% from 2008, when the state let $948.6 million in new contracts, or an average of nearly $80 million per month.