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NC Elected Leaders Agree To Highway Lighting Upgrade

Elected officials say money saved by using LED lamps will help pay for their installation. Credit: Wikimedia contributor Dmitri G. for Creative Commons http://bit.ly/2t3yKZ1

North Carolina's highways will become a little brighter for nighttime motorists through a deal in which anticipated energy savings by using LED lighting helps pay for the project.

Members of the Council of State — comprised of the governor, lieutenant governor and other statewide elected officials — signed off Tuesday on the performance contract for the Department of Transportation.

The $32.3 million agreement with Trane US requires borrowed money to construct and install the lighting statewide over 16 months. Monetary savings through more energy efficient fixtures repay the debt over 15 years.

Other similar performance contracts entered by North Carolina state agencies have resulted in savings that met or exceeded the projects' costs.

The lighting upgrade is expected to employ 120 people.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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