Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) were first established in 1962 by Congress to perform transportation planning functions for urbanized areas. The DCHC MPO was founded in 1980. An MPO’s coverage is delineated by its Metropolitan Area Boundary (MAB) that includes surrounding areas that are expected to become urbanized within the next twenty years but are not yet within another MPO.

Early Transportation Planning for the Durham Area

The Durham Urbanized Area was first designated by the Census in 1970 and it consisted of only the City of Durham and a portion of Durham County. The first policy board or Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) was created for the Durham Urbanized Area in the 1970s. Transportation plans were developed after designation, one in 1972 and one in 1980. The 1980 plan was the first plan to be mutually adopted by the City of Durham, the TAC, and the State. The 1980 Census expanded the Durham Urbanized Area to include the Towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro and portions of Orange County and the name was changed to the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Urban Area MPO.

Multi-Modal Planning Begins

The 1990 Census expanded the urbanized area boundary to include the Town of Hillsborough and northeastern Chatham County and each was added to the Memorandom of Understanding (MOU) in 1994. The DCHC MPO also adopted its first comprehensive Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) in 1994. With a 2020 horizon year, the 1994 LRTP expanded beyond highways to include all forms of transportation.

The 2025 Long Range Transportation Plan was adopted in 2000 by the MPO. In 2004, the DCHC MPO approached Orange County, Roxboro, Person County, Butner, Granville County, Pittsboro, and Chatham County in regard to MPO expansion. At the time, the DCHC MPO decided not to expand because the 2030 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) for the MPO was well under way and expansion would delay the plan. The TAC directed the MPO staff to reexamine MPO expansion at a later date. The 2030 Long Range Transportation Plan was adopted in 2005.

Current Planning

The 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan was adopted by the MPO in 2009. This was a joint plan with the Capital Area MPO – the first comprehensive transportation plan for the entire Triangle area. This plan was nationally recognized by the National Association of MPOs as a model of regional coordination. The two MPOs coordinated on the development of socio-economic data, transportation modeling, alternatives analysis, and the selection of the preferred network of projects.

After adoption, the MPO approached Chatham County and Orange County regarding MPO expansion in 2009. Orange County and the MPO mutually agreed to expand the planning boundary to include more of western Orange County. This new boundary was approved in 2010. No boundary expansion was approved for Chatham County. The boundary in Orange County was slightly modified in 2012.

An important element of the 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan was the regional transit system proposed for the Triangle area. In 2009, the NC General Assembly approved the creation of the Congestion Relief Intermodal Transport Fund and granted counties the authority to levy a half-cent sales tax to support public transportation subject to approval in a referendum. In November 2011, Durham County had a successful referendum to authorize this sales tax to support the transit elements of the 2035 plan. In November 2012, Orange County also had a successful referendum to authorize this sales tax. Planning is underway on the Durham-Orange transit corridor.

Free viewers are required for some of the attached documents.
They can be downloaded by clicking on the icons below.

Acrobat Reader Windows Media Player Word Viewer Excel Viewer PowerPoint Viewer