Transportation Priorities for 2016-2025

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Prioritization 3.0 is NCDOT’s third iteration of using a quantitative prioritization process for development of the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). In 2013, the General Assembly codified the prioritization process and set many parameters on the use and distribution of transportation funding in legislation titled Strategic Transportation Investments (H817). On December 4, 2014, the NCDOT released the DCHC MPO's supplement to the draft FY2016-2025 STIP. The supplement is still a draft but will serve as the basis for developing the MPO's FY2016-2025 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). An Adobe PDF of the draft supplement is available at this link: DCHC MPO draft supplement to the NCDOT draft FY 2016-2025 STIP

The Strategic Transportation Investments legislation organized transportation funding into three categories: Statewide Mobility, Regional Impact, and Division Needs. Statewide Mobility includes highway projects mostly on Interstates and the National Highway System (e.g. I-40, US 15/501, NC 147), commercial service airports (e.g. RDU), and major freight rail corridors (e.g. the NC Railroad). Regional Impact includes Statewide Mobility projects and adds highway projects on other NC and US routes (e.g. NC 54, US 501), public bus and rail transit that crosses county lines (e.g. Durham-Orange light rail, Triangle Transit bus). Division Needs includes Statewide Mobility, Regional Impact, and adds other state roads (e.g. Fayetteville Road), federally funded municipal roads (e.g. portions of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway), other public transit (e.g. DATA, CHT), and bicycle and pedestrian projects.

Forty percent of the funding is allocated to the Statewide Mobility category for competition statewide based fully on a quantitative analysis. Thirty percent of the funding is allocated to the Regional Impact category for competition within two paired Divisions (5&6, 7&9, 8&10) and is distributed by population of the paired Divisions. Regional Impact projects compete based on a quantitative analysis and local input from MPOs, Rural Planning Organizations, and NCDOT Highway Division Engineers. Thirty percent of the funding is allocated to the Division Needs category for competition within a Division and is distributed equally to each Division. Division Needs projects compete based on a quantitative analysis and local input from MPOs, Rural Planning Organizations, and NCDOT Highway Division Engineers.

Statewide: 100% Quantitative Score
Regional: 70% Quantitative Score + 15% Division Engineer Input Points + 15% MPO Input Points
Division: 50% Quantitative Score + 25% Division Engineer Input Points + 25% MPO Input Points

Prioritization 3.0 will result in a draft STIP which will be released by NCDOT by December 1, 2014. The MPO will also release a draft TIP at that time and seek public input. A final STIP and TIP are expected to be approved by July 1, 2015 by the NC Board of Transportation and the MPO. The STIP and TIP will include funding for federal fiscal years 2016 through 2022.

Schedule

May 14, 2014: NCDOT released quantitative scores.
May 14-21, 2014: MPO staff applied local ranking methodology and developed MPO staff recommendation for release for public comment.
May 28, 2014: TCC recommended local input points for release for public comment.
June 11, 2014: TAC released the local ranking methodology results and proposed local input points for public comment.
June 25, 2014: TAC held public hearing on local input points.
July 23, 2014: TCC made recommendation on final local input points.
August 13, 2014: TAC approved local input points.
August 29, 2014: MPO submitted local input points.

Public meetings for the Division Engineers' Assignment of Input Points

Division	Date	Meeting and Location
Division 5	6/24/2014	NCDOT Division 5 Public Meeting on Division Engineer Local Input Points, Butner Town Hall, 415 Central Avenue, Butner, NC 27509, 4-7pm
Division 7	6/23/2014	NCDOT Division 7 Public Meeting on Division Engineer Local Input Points, NCDOT Division Office, 1584 Yanceyville Street, Greensboro, NC 27405, 4-7pm
	6/24/2014	NCDOT Division 7 Public Meeting on Division Engineer Local Input Points, NCDOT District Office, 115 E. Crescent Square Drive, Graham, NC 27253, 4-7pm
Division 8	7/24/2014	NCDOT Division 8 Public Meeting on Division Engineer Local Input Points, Division 8 Traffic Services Training Room, 150 DOT Drive, Carthage, NC 28327, 4-7 pm

Local Ranking Methodology

NCDOT Quantitative Scores

MPO Input Point Assignment

Draft MPO Input Point Assignment

In order to develop the MPO’s draft point assignment, MPO staff first applied the Local Ranking Methodology to develop scores for all submitted projects. According to the adopted methodology, some of the MPO’s points are to be assigned by following a formula and some of the points are to be assigned by discretion (flexible points). The MPO ranking methodology assigns points to each project in order to make sure that it cannot be overtaken by a lower scoring project and presumes that the Division Engineer will assign 100 points to each project.

See the full application of the MPO’s Local Ranking Methodology table.

A shorter simpler table of only the projects that the MPO or the Division has proposed assigning local input points to is in Table 1 and Table 2.

The TAC released this information for public comment. The public comment period ran from June 16 through August 12, and a public hearing was held on June 25, 2014.

Approved MPO Input Point Assignment

The MPO’s methodology does not necessarily maximize the utilization of the MPO’s points and does not always assign points to the most competitive projects. MPO staff recognized that there would likely be strategic reasons to adopt a final point assignment that varies from the MPO’s methodology and included a description of these reasons in the MPO’s methodology document.

MPO staff prepared a report on the relative competitiveness of the MPO’s projects. This information indicated several recommended changes from the point assignment produced by applying the Local Ranking Methodology. The TAC considered each project’s competitiveness and any public comments on projects, and consulted with the Division Engineers before developing the final point assignment.

On August 13, 2014, the MPO Board (formerly TAC) adopted this Resolution (2 MB) assigning the MPO's local input projects. This table displays all projects that were considered for input points and the reasoning behind the final point assignment.

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