NCDOT is pleased to release the project scores, rankings, and results of its second Prioritization process or P2.0. P2.0 represents a culmination of a 17 month process which included input from the public, key planning partners and Department staff to develop an objective, data driven process for evaluating North Carolina’s future transportation priorities. P2.0 continues the Department’s Transportation Reform efforts and furthers the commitment to a transparent and inclusive decision making process. Stakeholder input in particular enhanced the manner in which projects were scored (both for highways and other modes), including:
- Inclusion of an economic impact component for highway projects
- Inclusion of a benefit – cost component for highway projects
- Inclusion of improving geometric deficiencies to current design standards for highway projects
- Improvements to bicycle, pedestrian, and urban transit scoring models
Prioritization 2.0 Results
Approximately 1200 highway projects, over 600 bicycle and pedestrian projects, and almost 100 transit projects were scored in P2.0 based on how well each project met an existing transportation need (such as reducing congestion) and on how it aligned with local community priorities. Similar to the first Prioritization process the output of P2.0 serves as input into the Department’s next draft 10 Year Work Program (expected to be released in late spring 2012).
The Department's Prioritization process is solely focused on ranking projects and more information on how projects are funded and programmed is available on the Transportation Reform page. More information about specific Rail, Aviation, and Ferry priority projects can be found by contacting the following staff in those Divisions: Cheryl Hannah (Rail), Arthur Smith (Ferry), Rick Barkes (Aviation).
The final step of the prioritization process is to receive input from key planning partners and the public to recommend an investment strategy to NCDOT. Seven investment strategy summits will be held across the state to receive this input. At each summit, the department will explain how investing more money in key areas such as highway mobility, safety, pavements, bridges, transit, bicycle/pedestrian, rail, aviation and ferry will affect the level of service provided to the public. See Prioritization 2.0 Investment Strategy Summits for more information on each summit. You can also give us your input online by using Contact Us.
As part of the NCDOT's new Transportation Reform process, a more data-driven approach is being used to score projects across the state. In order to score projects against similar projects within NCDOT's new prioritization process, each project is classified under one of the Department's three primary goals (Safety, Mobility, Infrastructure Health) and three tiers (Statewide, Regional, and Subregional). Projects classified as Infrastructure Health were further classified by Submode (Interstate Pavement, Modernization, and Highway Miscellaneous). The documents below provide a listing of highway and non-highway transportation projects statewide, by NCDOT Division, and by MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) and RPO (Rural Planning Organization).
Prioritization 1.0 Results
Please refer to the document titled Project Classifications to see how these projects were classified within each NCDOT Goal, Tier, and Submode. This document also contains examples of typical projects found under these classifications.
The Urban Loop Prioritization Process, separate from NCDOT's overall Strategic Prioritization process, is exclusively focused on prioritizing projects for the 10 urban loops designated by the 1989 Highway Trust Fund and subsequent amendments. The 10 loop areas are located in Asheville, Charlotte, Durham, Fayetteville, Gastonia, Greensboro, Greenville, Raleigh, Wilmington, and Winston-Salem.
The Urban Loop Program totals 353 miles, 140 of which are open to traffic. The estimated cost to complete the program is currently about $8 Billion. At the current funding rate, it will take more than 50 years to complete the program. These projects are large, complex, environmentally challenging and costly to construct. A prioritization process is needed to help ensure there is a cost-effective use of resources to complete the urban loop program. Twenty five TIP projects (21 roadway segments and 4 interchanges) are evaluated as part of the urban loop prioritization process).
Over the past year, department engineers have worked diligently with local leaders and transportation planning organizations across the state to develop a formula for prioritizing urban loop projects. The new process is based on hard facts, and it applies the same criteria to all loop projects.
Consider the facts:
FACT: North Carolina’s needs are great – 25 loop projects currently need funding.
FACT: To build every loop project would cost $8 billion.
FACT: NCDOT only receives $150 million each year in loop funding, leaving $7.85 billion in projects it simply cannot afford to build.
The formula is based on the following criteria:
- Needs – NCDOT uses crash data and traffic congestion figures to calculate the role the project would play in improving safety and mobility.
- Benefits – The department examines factors such as travel time savings, economic development and future traffic levels to determine how the project would enhance the region.
With every project, each factor under “Needs” and “Benefits” is given a score. Those points are added up and divided by the project’s total cost. The result is the number NCDOT uses to rank the project. For a more in-depth look at the prioritization criteria, see the report below.
The department is in the beginning stages of this process, and it encourages the public to share its thoughts, concerns and questions with NCDOT. By getting engaged, citizens can help the department take the next step in transportation reform. The department will work with them, as well as local leaders and transportation planning organizations, to find creative solutions to funding the projects that are important to communities across the state.
URBAN LOOP ACCELERATION PLAN
In March 2011, the NCDOT Board of Transportation requested that department staff conduct a limited segment analysis of remaining Urban Loop projects. With concurrence from each of the Urban Loop MPO staff, two segments in each Urban Loop area were selected for additional analysis using the Urban Loop Prioritization Process. Charlotte, Gastonia and Wilmington did not have any additional segments analyzed, because their loop projects will be completed either within the existing loop schedule or their projects do not have identified loop segments. Therefore, 14 additional segments were analyzed. The results of that analysis are listed below.
The department used the public input mentioned above and the results of this limited segment analysis to propose the use of $400 million in Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle, or GARVEE, bonds to accelerate loop schedules in six cities. By borrowing now against future federal funding, NCDOT will be able to purchase right of way or begin construction years sooner that previously planned. This new plan is contingent upon federal revenues remaining constant or increasing, and state revenues not decreasing. The accelerated schedule is listed below.
For a more in-depth look at the prioritization criteria and the overall process, click on the following links:
Please note that a technical correction was made to the freight points scoring, dated September 27, 2010. It was discovered that the freight points number listed in the table was calculated using the difference between the forecasted freight volumes with and without the loop project while it should have been calculated using just the 2035 forecasted freight volumes as described in the March 30 report. While this correction resulted in a minor change to the Priority Ratio for a few projects, the draft schedule did not change.
For questions regarding the Proposed Urban Loop Prioritization Process please Contact Us.