Good evening.

Thank you, Charlie, for that introduction and thank you all for inviting me to speak to you.

I'm glad to be here with you tonight.

My Chief Deputy for the department, Gene Conti, is here with me as well.

Gene comes to us from the USDOT where he served as Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy.

In this capacity he was the principal advisor to Secretary Slater on transportation issues such as safety, finance, economic growth, technology and strategic planning.

We are glad to have Gene working with us at the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

DOT and the Trucking Association have a strong working relationship, and Gene and I look forward to continuing this partnership.

We are faced with a number of challenges at the department, and I am committed to finding solutions to these challenges so that we can provide all North Carolinians with a safe and well-maintained transportation system.

My background as a CPA and business owner and experience as a Board of Transportation member have given me a unique outlook on the state's transportation challenges.

I have laid out an aggressive agenda for the department to carry out its mission -- and to help fulfill Gov. Easley's vision of One North Carolina.

I've produced these agenda cards to serve as a quick reference and help us stay focused on our main objectives.

As you can see, at the top of that agenda is maintenance.

You all know how important well-maintained highways are to this state.

About 75 percent of North Carolina's communities depend solely on trucks to receive goods and serves.

The trucking industry is vital to North Carolina's economy.

You depend on DOT to provide a safe, well-maintained highway system to transport goods across the state, and support continued economic growth.

And it is DOT's responsibility to provide you -- and all motorists traveling North Carolina's highways -- with such a system.

During the past 50 years, DOT has invested a great deal of time and money into building a highway system that earned us the name "The Good Roads State."

But, as North Carolina's population increases, the number of cars on the road and the number of miles traveled are also increasing -- as a result, our highways are deteriorating.

If we want to keep up with the needs of our growing population, we must be able to maintain the roads that we build.

To help address these needs, we're taking a hard look at operations across the board. I'm collecting ideas from employees for efficiencies and cost savings from throughout DOT.

In the next few weeks we'll be evaluating these ideas and selecting those to be implemented.

Any savings that we generate will be put toward critical needs -- starting with maintenance.

It's more than good business to protect the investment we've made in our highways -- it's common sense.

We're also planning for the future -- which brings me to my next priority -- mass transit.

All of us have been stuck in traffic congestion -- and it is frustrating.

It's frustrating for commuters trying to get to work, and for truck drivers trying to deliver their supplies.

Mass transit will help increase capacity and improve congestion on our highways by offering motorists an alternative to the car.

That's why I'll continue to push for expansion of rail and public transportation service statewide.

But we realize these projects take time and we must be proactive NOW.

To get us moving, I've asked a select group of NCDOT staff to identify locations where High Occupancy Vehicle or HOV lanes would work across our state -- such as high volume areas along Interstate 40 in the Triangle or Interstate 77 between Statesville and Charlotte.

By providing a powerful incentive for motorists to carpool or use public transportation, HOV lanes have the potential to significantly reduce the traffic congestion, and as a result, improve the quality of life in our urban areas within a much shorter time frame than new construction.

You'll be hearing more from the department on this very soon.

Just as Gov. Kerr Scott pledged to get our farmers "out of the mud," we must now get our motorists out of the traffic jams.

Because congestion is growing so rapidly, I will be working with leaders across the state to help me find long-term solutions to address this problem.

As we address our transportation needs statewide, we also must consider the needs of our rural areas.

Our rural communities are not experiencing the same economic growth as our urban areas.

Instead, they are facing the challenge of attracting new industry and jobs, and need the necessary road infrastructure to do so.

I grew up in a small town in eastern North Carolina, and I truly believe that our farm roads can be the spokes in the economic development wheel in these areas.

To help make this happen, we must provide quality arteries that provide convenient access to our major highways -- especially for truck drivers.

After all, you depend on good roads to deliver goods to these communities.

My agenda will help you by providing less congested and better-maintained highways.

I've talked about the DOT's goals, now I would like to talk about what our organizations are working on together.

For the past two years, DOT, the N. C. Trucking Association and other groups such as the Highway Patrol have been working together on the Commercial Vehicle Safety Work Group.

This group works as a team to address truck safety on North Carolina's highways.

I would like to recognize Charlie Diehl for his involvement on this group -- his knowledge and experience are essential to its success.

Thank you, Charlie.

We already have had a number of successes.

In 1999, DOT and the N.C. Trucking Association worked together to get the Truck Safety Bill passed in the General Assembly.

The two organizations, along with the other members of the working group, also partnered to get the word out on the department's lane restriction policy.

The Gov.'s Highway Safety Program and DMV Enforcement continue to promote the "No-Zone" campaign to educate motorists about blind spots on large trucks and the dangers of passing a large truck and then slowing down abruptly.

Currently, the work group has a number of other programs on the front burner to make North Carolina's highways safer -- including truck parking, automated weighing and safety inspections and Truckwatch.

The truck parking subcommittee is led by members of the department's Roadside Environmental Unit which oversees the state's rest areas.

They are addressing the shortage of truck parking across the state, and working to provide and guide truckers to appropriate parking facilities.

This action should help reduce the number of tired truckers on the highways, and cut down on parking on highway shoulders and ramps -- a safety concern.

DMV Enforcement is leading an effort to automate commercial vehicle weight and safety inspections.

This effort includes concepts such as weigh-in motion and in-vehicle transponders for instant vehicle data transfer across state lines.

We are scheduled to let a contract this summer for a highway weigh-in motion and transponder system at the Hillsborough Weigh Station on I-85 north.

Another exciting program is Truckwatch which is led by the N. C. Trucking Association and the N. C. Forestry Association with assistance from DMV Enforcement and Highway Patrol.

This program aims to add a type of "self policing" to our truck safety efforts.

The first phase includes training selected safety officers from trucking companies to look for potential truck safety problems during their daily travels.

Each safety officer will be given an identification number and asked to immediately notify the Highway Patrol or DMV Enforcement of any potential safety problems they see on the road.

This program will help enforcement more efficiently address safety concerns.

We hope to kick off this program this summer.

You can see why we call this team a work group -- they aren't just talking about solutions, they are working on solutions.

I want to take a minute to mention another safety initiative that is very important to us at DOT -- and that's work zone safety.

Gov. Easley has declared April 9 -12 as Work Zone Safety Awareness Week in North Carolina.

To kick off this campaign, we will hold press conferences on Tuesday, April 10, in several locations across the state to educate motorists and highway workers on the importance of work zone safety.

We hope to see you there.

We take work zone safety very seriously, because it means saving lives.

On average, there are 26 fatalities in North Carolina work zones each year.

Our goal is to reduce that number to zero -- just one death on our highways is too many.

As part of this effort, DOT and the N.C. Trucking Association soon will be partnering to produce a video about trucking through the work zone.

This is just another example of what we can accomplish when we work together.

I applaud you for all you do to make trucking safe in our state.

I'm looking forward to continuing the great partnership we share, and working together on many more programs in the future.

With the number of vehicles on the road at an all-time high, highway safety is more critical than ever.

But, with your help, I am confident that we can continue to raise the standard of highway safety in North Carolina.