The financially beleaguered North Carolina Dept. of Transportation could see its current $1.5-billion road-building budget cut by nearly one-third under a bill passed June 25 by the state legislature. The measure, which also reduces funding for transit, airports, and railroads, reorganizes the department’s governing board to provide lawmakers with greater oversight over spending policies. Gov. Roy Cooper (D) has not indicated whether he will sign the bill. NCDOT anticipates the COVID-19 outbreak will cost as much as $400 million in lost fuel tax revenue next year, compounding an agency-wide cash crunch that has been exacerbated by paying out approximately $1 billion to settle claims from a land acquisition underpayment lawsuit.