Rookie mistake? Bad economy? Both?

Internal correspondence from the N.C. Department of Transportation raises doubts about the state's ability to fast-track construction on the last piece of Charlotte's outerbelt – something Gov. Bev Perdue pledged in late February.

A month after Perdue said Interstate 485 construction would begin in 2009, a DOT official wrote that the state couldn't afford to start the last outerbelt segment this year. The only way to finish I-485 ahead of schedule would be to take money from other Charlotte projects, such as the widening of Independence Boulevard or the widening I-85 in Cabarrus County, the report said.

Read the rest of this Charlotte Observer article here.

Watch Gov. Perdue's promise from February: