READY TO POLL.

Leaders of the state's transportation network gathered for Business North Carolina's roundtable discussion on the same day that Siemens Mobility announced a $220 million light-rail manufacturing plant in Davidson County. About 500 jobs are expected to be created at the Lexington site. The big announcement underlined the critical role that the state's transportation system plays in luring business of all kinds, as well the impact of mobility-related businesses.

The conversation also covered a possible standard vehicle levy to replace sagging gas taxes; drones delivering artificial organs; driverless shuttles; and a projection that in 10 years, every new vehicle will be at least a hybrid or electric.

PANELISTS

Joe Milazzo executive director, Regional Transportation Alliance

Kevin Baker executive director, Piedmont Triad International Airport

Michael Fox chair, the North Carolina Board of Transportation; president, Piedmont Triad Partnership

Peter Marino partner, Smith Anderson law firm; Freeways committee chair, Regional Transportation Alliance

Brian Clark executive director, North Carolina Ports

Carl Warren president and CEO, North Carolina Railroad Co.

Martin Marietta, Smith Anderson, North Carolina Railroad Company and Piedmont Triad Airport Authority sponsored the discussion. It was moderated by Business North Carolina editor David Mildenberg and was edited for brevity and clarity.

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF TRANSPORTATION TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT?

FOX: Transportation is one of the key questions that any business leader looks at in deciding where to expand their business or locate a new business, along with the workforce. We're really fortunate here in North Carolina that we have spent decades improving our transportation infrastructure. I've been told personally by the decision-makers of many of the largest economic development announcements in our state's history that we've had in the last year, that the transportation infrastructure was a critical piece to them making the decision for North Carolina.

WARREN: Transportation is vital. Not only do you need to think about things like international air service, but rail is also a critical differentiator for winning economic development projects. I've observed over the last several years that I've been back in North Carolina and the 10 years before that when I was at CSX, when states were going after big manufacturing projects, being able to put together a rail solution that also included the port and also included a good linkage between them in the state's approach to recruiting economic development deals was a big differentiator for a lot of the manufacturing projects.

KEVIN, YOU'VE LED THE PIEDMONT TRIAD AIRPORT FOR 15 YEARS, AND IT'S ATTRACTING MUCH ATTENTION BECAUSE OF BOOM SUPERSONIC AND OTHERS. TELL US ABOUT THE AVIATION INDUSTRY.

BAKER: North Carolina is a really strong state for this industry. Obviously, you've got one of the biggest hubs in the country in Charlotte. And then in Raleigh, you've got one of the fastest growing cities in the country. And then PTI occupies this niche of employment in the aerospace industry with Honda Aircraft, with HAECO Americas, Boom, Cessna and FedEx. And another 10 companies that are in line right now that we're chasing. Our best days are way out in front of us right now. It's going be great.

HOW DO YOU ACCOUNT FOR THE SUCCESSES IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS?

BAKER: Last year on this same round table, I think I told the story about how with the Boom project, it was Mike Fox putting me in touch with Brian Clark and Kevin Lacey, who was the state highway engineer, and those guys figured out how we were going to move the railroad. We also were going to figure it moving big pieces of fuselage from the Wilmington port to [the Boom facility in Greensboro], and having the transportation network in place was absolutely crucial. We've been working for six years on grading sites, speculatively, basically without any customers to speak of at that time. It was about getting all the infrastructure in place so that whenever the opportunity did arise, we were ready to say yes.

...