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North Carolina has been involved in urban transportation planning since 1959. In the mid- 1950's several municipalities took the initiative and developed transportation plans using consultants or their own staffs. North Carolina recognized that governmental agencies should work together to provide plans for the development of the Transportation System and in 1959 enacted North Carolina General Statutes requiring State-municipal cooperative development of a major street plan adequate to serve existing and future travel. |
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| In 1962 the U.S. Congress updated the Federal-aid Highway Law to require a "cooperative, comprehensive, and continuing" (3C) planning process in all urban areas over 50,000 in population. This law triggered additional comprehensive modeling studies. The original areas over 50,000 (Metropolitan Planning Organizations or MPOs) were: Asheville, Charlotte, Durham, Fayetteville, Greensboro, High Point Raleigh, and Winston-Salem. |
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| Although the state Department of Transportation was working on planning in late 1950s and early 1960s, it was in 1963 when the seeds of the Branch itself were first sown. In 1963 Marion R. (Ron) Poole, PE, PhD headed up the Thoroughfare Planning Unit of the Advanced Planning Department. This small Unit was staffed by Bill Riggs, Tom Hill, and Felton Lowman. The first two Thoroughfare Plans done by the Unit were Roanoke - Rapids and Canton. Originally there were no computer models to process the gravity model calculations or trip assignments, so they were manually calculated and assigned. |
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In the late 1960s, the Advanced Planning Branch combined with the Planning Branch to become the Planning and Research Branch. The Branch started to use the mainframe computer application PLANPAK/ BAC PAK from the US DOT for transportation modeling. In the mid 1970s there was a staff expansion in the Thoroughfare Planning Unit, and the Unit was moved to the old Sir Walter Raleigh Hotel. As the offices were from converted hotel rooms, each office came with their own bathroom. It was unquestionably the most spacious office accommodations ever seen by the Branch. |
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The Thoroughfare Planning Unit moved to Murphy School, and then in the 1980s moved again to the Peden Steel Building off Capital Boulevard. The Thoroughfare Planning Unit continued to assist any Municipality requesting a Thoroughfare Plan. With the 1980 Census, the number of MPOs in the State increased to 15 and most of the modeling for these MPOs continued to be preformed by the Unit's engineers and planners. |
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In 1984 Ron Poole became the Assistant Manager of the Planning and Research Branch. After a re-organization under Branch Manager Charlie Atkins the Branch was re-named the
Planning and Environmental Branch and the Thoroughfare Planning Unit became the Statewide Planning (SWP) Group. |
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| The SWP Group placed a high level of emphasis on continuing education, encouraging staff to obtain their Masters' and Doctorate degrees. Personal Computer applications for Transportation Modeling became available, and TranPlan became the modeling platform for the Branch. The Group continued to grow, both in responsibilities and numbers, and in the early 1990s relocated back to the Transportation Building in downtown Raleigh on Wilmington Street. |
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In 1991 the Statewide Planning
Branch was born. It consisted of the
previous Statewide Planning Group and
additionally the Traffic Survey Unit;
Traffic Forecasting; Research; and GIS.
The first Manager of the Branch was Ron
Poole. Dr. Poole served at the Manager
from 1991 until 1999. |
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During this time, the
number of Metropolitan Planning
Organizations expanded to 17 with the
addition of Greenville and Rocky Mount.
Air Quality analysis became a critical
component of the planning process, and
environmental considerations became
increasingly important in considerations
for plan development.
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A. Blake Norwood, PE, became the second Manager of the Statewide Planning Branch. He served as Manager during a transition time from 1999 to 2003.
Reorganization along east / west geographic lines took place in the Planning Units. The Branch assisted in the development of, and provided support for Rural Planning Organizations, a rural counterpart to the Metropolitan Planning Organizations. The Branch continued to place a strong emphasis on continuing technical education and on the Certified Public Manager program for its supervisors and managers. |
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Mike Bruff,
PE currently serves as the
Manager for the Branch. In 2004
the Branch name changed to the
Transportation Planning Branch (TPB)
to more accurately reflect the
mission of the Branch: providing
multi-modal transportation
planning services to
municipalities, counties,
regions, MPOs and RPOs. The
Branch includes two
Transportation Planning Units
(provide multi-modal
Comprehensive Transportation
Planning and travel demand
modeling and development
assistance to local governments,
Metropolitan Planning
Organizations, and Rural
Planning Organizations; traffic
forecasts for TIP projects; air
quality conformity analysis to
comply with the Clean Air Act
and EPA requirements); and a
Technical Services Unit (Model
Development and Research Group,
Traffic Survey Group and a
Systems Planning Group). The
Traffic Survey Group collects
and processes traffic monitoring
data and is responsible for
maintaining traffic count
information and traffic volume
maps. The Systems Planning Group
is responsible for the CMAQ
program, Strategic Highway
Corridor and the Statewide
Transportation Plan. |
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| As State and Federal
requirements have changed to place an
increased emphasis on long range
planning, the Branch has worked with the
MPOs and RPOs to develop planning
partnerships to meet the State's
planning needs and serve our primary
customer, the citizens of North
Carolina. |
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| An organizational chart of the Transportation Planning Branch can be found by clicking below.
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NCDOT
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