By Sarah Tate
May 5, 2021
WXII reports.
The North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles program, passed into law by the General Assembly, replaces license plates that are more than six years old. The replacement program was set to begin July 1, 2020, but the pandemic caused it to be pushed back until 2021. Now it s facing a new challenge: a shortage of the aluminum needed to created the plates.
According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the DMV usually produces between 400 and 500 first-time license plates each day. The plate replacement program would increase production by around 10 times that number. The aluminum shortage greatly impacts production, so by halting the program, the department is ensuring there is enough of the lightweight metal to produce first-time plates.
By Sarah Tate
May 5, 2021
WXII reports.
The North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles program, passed into law by the General Assembly, replaces license plates that are more than six years old. The replacement program was set to begin July 1, 2020, but the pandemic caused it to be pushed back until 2021. Now it s facing a new challenge: a shortage of the aluminum needed to created the plates.
According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the DMV usually produces between 400 and 500 first-time license plates each day. The plate replacement program would increase production by around 10 times that number. The aluminum shortage greatly impacts production, so by halting the program, the department is ensuring there is enough of the lightweight metal to produce first-time plates.
Lack of infrastructure
“It doesn’t make sense what we were trying to put people though,” said Wil Neumann, who lives in the Timberlake neighborhood on the west side of Armstrong Ford Road – a two-lane road without a shoulder or turning lane – located in the town limits of Cramerton. Timberlake sits across the street from the proposed Del Webb community, named the South Fork Senior Community.
Neumann, a former North Carolina house representative who serves as chairman of Cramerton’s zoning board, isn’t against the proposed development, but rather the future traffic congestion in the area if more developments are green-lighted.
FORT BRAGG Kevin Griess spent more than 20 years in the Air Force but was never assigned to an installation in North Carolina during those two decades.
Now, he’s spending his first time in North Carolina helping oversee the nation’s most populated Army post as Fort Bragg’s newest deputy garrison commander.
He replaced Justin Mitchell, who retired in December after serving in the position since 2014.
The deputy garrison commander is similar to a city manager.
He or she is a civilian who works with the garrison commander and command sergeant major to develop policies and procedures for the day-to-day operations of the installation.