Click on a Question for the Answer.
| 1.
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Q: |
What
are the goals of the Strategic Highway Corridors
concept? |
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A: |
There are several
specific goals of the Strategic Highway Corridors
concept. A foremost goal is to use Strategic Highway
Corridors concept as a tool to affect decision-making
and enhance multi-jurisdictional corridor planning.
Along with this is the goal to develop greater multi-party
consensus towards a true, long-term vision for each
corridor, especially early identification of the
desired facility type for each corridor. Buy-in
towards this facility type will address other goals
such as consistency in a facility’s operation, access
management, and safety improvements. |
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| 2. |
Q: |
What
types of decisions can be affected? |
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A: |
The use of Strategic
Highway Corridors concept is intended to affect
short and long-term decisions. Initially the concept
will serve as a guide/reference to consider for
on-going project planning, design, and other day-to-day
decisions (such as driveway permit decisions). Over
time, this concept could also influence preliminary
project scoping and funding decisions as well as
local land use decisions. |
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| 3.
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Q: |
Is the Strategic Highway Corridors concept
simply an idea under review? What power(s) does
it have to be applied statewide and for how long
into the future? |
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A: |
The Department
has already begun to consider how planning and design
decisions would be affected in the future as a result
of the Strategic Highway Corridors concept. With
the adoption of the concept under the auspices of
the Statewide Transportation Plan in September 2004,
the Board of Transportation endorsed this concept
as a new direction for statewide highway planning.
The Board acts as the policy-making body for NCDOT
and therefore the Strategic Highway Corridors concept
will remain as a guide for future decision-making.
However the work to educate stakeholders and citizens
about the concept must continue and will take time
and the real impact will be seen in the coming years. |
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| 4. |
Q: |
How
is the Strategic Highway Corridors concept different
from past initiatives? How will corridor studies
be different from past studies?
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A: |
The Strategic Highway
Corridors concept builds upon past initiatives to
improve mobility and connectivity throughout North
Carolina. The concept is expected to improve decision-making
and create a greater sense of continuity and safety
for traffic flow along corridors. The development
and designation of facility types per corridor is
a significant step forward from past studies. Each
facility type represents an ultimate goal/standard
for how the highway facility may operate in the
future. Facility types also characterize operational
features such as the use and breaks in medians,
driveways, traffic signals, intersection, and/or
interchanges along the corridor. The use of this
concept will also promote access management techniques
as a tool for accomplishing the goals of the concept.
Strategic Highway Corridor studies are expected
to examine longer corridor distances than in the
past. A methodology for how these studies will be
conducted is being refined and may differ slightly
for each corridor. Some studies may lead from a
systems level (or big picture analysis) directly
to a project planning study. |
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| 5. |
Q: |
How
does the Strategic Highway Corridors concept help
foster economic prosperity? |
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A: |
Improving Strategic
Highway Corridors will enhance passenger and freight
mobility and efficiency within regional areas and
across North Carolina. This improved mobility translates
into time-savings for business and freight carriers
and accentuates the state’s attractiveness for new
industry recruitment. A high quality facility with
access to activity centers offers a steady flow
of manufactured goods to market. Put together these
investments lead to job growth and economic opportunities
for local/regional areas. |
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| 6. |
Q: |
How
will the Strategic Highway Corridors concept minimize
impacts to the environment? |
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A: |
The intent of the
concept is to maximize the use of the existing facility
and give greater consideration to improvements,
which achieve operational efficiency, enhanced mobility
and safety. The focus will be to implement changes
in the existing corridor and limit (to the extent
possible) construction on new location. By building
upon an existing "footprint" impacts due
to construction to the surrounding natural, cultural,
and social environment can be reduced. This may
not be feasible in all cases, however the concept
does lay the groundwork to support a long-term shift
in how highway improvements can be made. |
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| 7. |
Q: |
What
types of design decisions will be affected by implementation
of the Strategic Highway Corridors concept?
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A: |
Future projects
may be designed to fit the operational features
of the desired facility type for the corridor. This
may includes replacing an intersection with an interchange
or limiting access to cross streets vs. private
driveways. Some of the same decisions may be made
on current projects, however many factors need to
be considered. Small-scale design changes can improve
the overall mobility along a corridor. For example,
a widening improvement of a two-lane thoroughfare
to four-lane boulevard (even if the desired facility
type is a freeway) can include such features as
directional openings (leftovers) or right-in/right-out
connections vs. full median openings. |
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| 8. |
Q: |
Is
the Strategic Highway Corridors concept solely focused
on highways? If so, why doesn’t it incorporate other
modes of transportation? |
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A: |
Currently the focus
is primarily on highway corridors, however as future
corridor studies are undertaken, the role of other
modes that interact within a highway corridor will
be considered. One example could be the study and
use of an existing parallel rail line to the highway.
Questions of passenger and freight movement within
the context of highway travel would need to be considered. |
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| 9. |
Q: |
Will
all facilities be built to their desired facility
type one day? Is this even realistic or economically
feasible?
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A: |
The desired facility
types and Vision map adopted by the Board of Transportation
represent a goal for which the Department will strive
towards as more planning and project development
efforts unfold in the future. The Vision Map does
not include a construction cost estimate to build
all facilities to their desired facility type nor
does it include a timetable. In some cases, the
Department may deem it unrealistic to build or change
project decisions that have recently been made in
light of commitments to the public and/or other
factors. |
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| 10. |
Q: |
How
soon will the public see changes as a result of
this concept?
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A: |
Changes for North Carolina’s
motorists will happen over time, many of the decisions
this concept may influence lie in planning and/or
design and thus may require a number of years
before the results are seen in construction. However,
the concept does serve as a starting point for
how the Department and local stakeholders can
consider a broader context for planning.
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| 11. |
Q: |
How
will NCDOT promote the Strategic Highway Corridors
concept and its implementation, i.e., what is
the education process and who will be involved?
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A: |
There are a number
of ways NCDOT will promote this concept. The website
is a primary means to communicate concept info,
provide updates, and allow the public to follow
Corridor studies. Presentations have also been made
to city/county planners, MPOs, RPOs and other interested
stakeholders. NCDOT will continue to provide as
much educational material and conduct presentations
as requested. Please email the appropriate person
on the Contacts
page to make a request. |
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| 12. |
Q: |
Will the Strategic Highway Corridors concept
and Vision Map ever be updated? What is the process
for doing this and will there be an opportunity
for additional input? |
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A: |
The corridors identified
as a part of this concept are considered to be of
a highly strategic nature to our state. However,
as North Carolina continues to grow, this concept
will be updated to stay dynamically tied to socio-economic
and policy changes. Periodic reevaluations will
be necessary to ensure the concept goals are still
achievable and corridors and facility types are
appropriate. The Vision Map will be updated as warranted
and/or at the direction of the Board of Transportation.
Additional input would be solicited during such
time. |
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| 13. |
Q: |
Will
NCDOT and perhaps other agencies devote resources
exclusively for the Strategic Highway Corridors
concept?
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A: |
At this time only
a handful of staff are exclusively working on this
concept. As interest grows and more Corridor studies
are undertaken, more Inter-Agency and Inter-Departmental
resources may be devoted to Strategic Highway Corridors
concept. |
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| 14. |
Q: |
What
type of coordination has taken place with surrounding
states on the Strategic Highway Corridors concept?
How will NCDOT convince neighboring states to
upgrade/improve their facilities that connect
to a Strategic Highway Corridor?
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A: |
All neighboring
states, including Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia,
and South Carolina have been made aware of the Strategic
Highway Corridors concept. Discussions have centered
on recommended facility types and expected improvements
and long-term commitments to the facilities in those
states. NCDOT will continue to coordinate with neighboring
states in implementing the concept and encourage
consistency/uniformity when a corridor crosses state
boundaries. It is not beneficial for either state
to have a four-lane freeway turn become a two-lane
boulevard at state borders. More coordination is
expected as individual corridor studies get started. |
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| 15. |
Q: |
What success have other states had in developing
a program similar to the Strategic Highway Corridors
concept? |
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A: |
Maryland, Minnesota,
Oregon, Florida, and Delaware are a few of the other
states involved in some aspect of statewide corridor
planning. Each state is working towards implementing
their planning efforts and working more closely
with stakeholders and the public to make wiser decisions
with existing transportation infrastructure. Each
of the states listed was consulted in the development
of the Strategic Highway Corridors concept. You
can find more info on the Links
page. |
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| 16. |
Q: |
Will all Strategic Highway Corridors have at
least four travel lanes in the future? |
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A: |
While enhancing
mobility is of primary importance for these corridors,
a four-lane highway is not the only means to achieve
this. A high quality expressway or boulevard, with
good access management could also improve mobility
and safety and preserve the operational capacity
required to quickly move people and goods along
a particular route. |
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| 17.
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Q: |
Does
the Strategic Highway Corridors concept mean more
Interstates for North Carolina? |
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A: |
The concept does
not specifically introduce new Interstate facilities
for North Carolina, except those already proposed,
such as the I-73, I-74, and I-20 corridors. Future
standards may require that all Corridors with a
freeway facility type be built to Interstate standards,
however no such requirement is in place at this
time. |
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| 18.
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Q: |
Will
Strategic Highway Corridors look more aesthetically
pleasing? |
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A: |
At this time no
specific design standards related to aesthetics
(such as median plantings, artwork treatment to
bridges, etc.) are associated with Strategic Highway
Corridors. These types of standards may be appropriate
and possibly required in the future, however many
factors would govern such a decision, such as: available
funding, local matching dollars, maintenance issues,
etc. |
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| 19.
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Q: |
Will
the Strategic Highway Corridors concept be able
to accommodate development without negatively impacting
the mobility function of the corridors? |
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A: |
Working proactively
with local developers and using Access Management
techniques will help to answer this question. Further
efforts must be made in North Carolina (and possibly
along each corridor) to manage, incorporate, and
appropriately design for adjacent development while
still retaining the overall mobility function of
these Corridors. |
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| 20. |
Q: |
Will
the Strategic Highway Corridors concept impact the
equity formula? |
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A: |
The Strategic Highways
Corridors concept will not impact the equity formula;
there is currently no relationship between the two.
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| 21. |
Q: |
Will
tolls be investigated as a means to fund future
Strategic Highway Corridor studies or specific corridor
improvements? |
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A: |
There is not policy
at this time to direct future toll revenue towards
Strategic Highway Corridor studies or improvements.
Any authority to do so would be at the discretion
of The North
Carolina Turnpike Authority |
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| 22. |
Q: |
How will the Strategic Highway Corridors
concept impact current Thoroughfare and Transportation
Plans? |
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A: |
For consistency
sake local Transportation Plans should consider
the overarching vision of the Strategic Highway
Corridors concept as facility types are designated
for local highway facilities. The Strategic Highway
Corridors concept represents part of the input/data
that should be used; any mobility deficiency should
be addressed in the deficiency analysis and recommendations.
The Strategic Highway Corridors concept however,
is still a new concept and efforts to mesh statewide
planning and local planning will take time and may
create inconsistencies in the short term. The recent
shift towards recommending future facility types
in local Transportation Plans (vs. major/minor thoroughfares)
provides a common framework between local Plans
and the Strategic Highway Corridors concept. |
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| 23. |
Q: |
How will Strategic Highway Corridor Projects
be prioritized? Will they have a greater priority
in the TIP process?
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A: |
There are many
projects in the TIP that are already making improvements
to Strategic Highway Corridors, however future projects
will be funded as priorities do now—through the
unmet needs list from local entities and coordination
via the Board of Transportation. At this time Strategic
Highway Corridor projects will not take precedence
over other projects but rather influence decisions
on existing projects to improve decision-making
and build continuity outside of just the project
limits. |
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| 24. |
Q: |
How
(or will) the Strategic Highway Corridors concept
affect projects already in the "pipeline"?
Will the concept affect projects that are on the
verge of being constructed? |
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A: |
The adoption of
this concept sets a new statewide highway planning
vision into motion. However, the concept is not
intended to supercede or overturn all previous or
recently made decisions on individual projects.
Each project already in the "pipeline"
or under some sort of systems planning, project
planning, or design stage must be evaluated on a
case by case basis. Certain factors (including public
involvement, social and environmental impacts, and
additional delays) may contribute towards how and
if the Strategic Highway Corridors concept affects
a current project. In some cases, the concept can
be used to consider small-scale changes/decisions,
which might help to achieve the long-term vision
for the corridor (such as Right-of-way acquisition
or application of access management). This concept
is expected to have an evolving role and is particularly
geared towards affecting future planning decisions. |
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| 25.
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Q: |
Will
the delivery time for projects on Strategic Highway
Corridor be faster than other non-Strategic Highway
Corridor projects? |
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A: |
At this time, the
project delivery process is not expected to change.
The concept does not take precedence over other
non-Strategic Highway Corridor projects. In the
future certain projects may actually undergo a more
thorough analysis to consider planning/design changes
to improve a project and make it consistent with
the ultimate desired facility type. These decisions
will be made on a case-by-case basis. |
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| 26. |
Q: |
Which
corridors will DOT study next? Are there factors
that determine this?
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A: |
A number of factors
are being considered to help determine which corridors
will be studied in the future, including: Local
interest, expected developmental pressure, increasing
freight demand, stage of projects along the corridor
(i.e., in planning, project development, or design),
equity, & availability of resources needed to
undertake the study. |
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| 27. |
Q: |
How will corridor studies be funded?
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A: |
Corridor studies
will be financed through a variety of means. In
the past planning funds have been set aside by the
legislature, while other studies (such as NC 73)
was jointly funded by local agencies and NCDOT.
Jointly funded studies may become the norm in the
future; this type of collaboration creates a partnership
by which all parties have a vested interest in the
process and outcome. Other states have also used
federal sources of funds to study major corridors. |
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| 28. |
Q: |
How
will recommended improvements (from a corridor study)
be implemented? |
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A: |
The intent is for
these recommendations to serve as input to ongoing
planning, project planning, and design decisions.
How the recommendations will be used will vary based
on the stage projects are in and what impacts it
may have to project timetables, scope, and/or design
complexity. |
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