Mediaboss Marketing

Published: Sunday, March 18, 2012 at 6:09 p.m. Last Modified: Sunday, March 18, 2012 at 6:09 p.m.

Rabon, R-Brunswick, spends at least three hours a day working on transportation issues, he said. He sleeps about five and a half hours each night. At times, he'll wake up and review documents.

"I do nothing but read," he said. "I'll do railroads one day, I'll do ports the next, and I'll do ferries the next. I'll just keep on rolling."

For a freshman legislator, Rabon is a prominent state transportation lawmaker. The chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation, he is also the co-chairman of the Appropriations Committee for Transportation and the co-chairman of the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee.

The committee assignments place Rabon at the intersection of transportation policy and funding. People who have worked with him have characterized him as effective and open-minded.

Southeastern North Carolina has been held back by past politicians who used transportation dollars for political tools, Rabon said, a practice he has committed to end.

But having Rabon's ear was helpful to officials in Pender County, who reached out to their senator when the DOT created an unpopular design of the Hampstead Bypass, which would have forced drivers to backtrack on what is now U.S. 17 to reach areas including the Topsail schools.

Rabon organized a meeting in Raleigh between Pender County officials and high-ranking DOT leaders late last year. By February, when the group had met a second time, DOT engineers confirmed they were optimistic the plans would change to preserve southbound access on U.S. 17.

Asked about his influence with DOT, Rabon said it wasn't influence it was respect.

"Let's come up with solutions instead of hitting a dead-end," he said. "There's always a solution."

More:
Rabon instrumental in mapping out future of N.C.'s transportation