Integration Project

Linking Long Range Transportation Planning and Project Development

The North Carolina Department of Transportation has undertaken a major process improvement with the goal of integrating the long range transportation planning process with the project development process.  In North Carolina the long range transportation planning process is called the Comprehensive Transportation Planning process and leads to the development of Comprehensive Transportation Plans (CTP).  In MPOs, federally required Long Range Transportation Plans (LRTP) are the fiscally constrained subsets of a CTP.  The project development process is handled through the Section 404/ NEPA Merger 01 process or other means to follow the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and its state counterpart, State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). 

The Integration Project was designed through the work of a multi-agency ‘Integration Team’ from 2005 to 2007.  This work resulted in the identification of 8 linkages between long range planning and project development, where products from the CTP process could inform or serve as the starting point for NEPA/ SEPA.  In 2008, an ‘Integration Implementation Team’ (IIT) was formed to direct the implementation of the Integration Project.  Under the leadership of the IIT, small working groups will design best standards and practices for accomplishing the goals of integration.  Refer to the documents below for more information on the Integration Project.