In September 2019, after a two-year process, the N.C. Board of Transportation adopted the 2020-2029 State Transportation Improvement Program, which identifies transportation projects that will receive funding from 2020 to 2029.
The document is the third 10-year plan developed under the 2013 Strategic Transportation Investments law and consists of over 1,700 projects across North Carolina. Most of these projects were identified through the data-driven scoring approach called Strategic Prioritization.
2020-2029 STIP DevelopmentWork on the 2020-2029 State Transportation Improvement Program began in April 2018, when the N.C. Department of Transportation released data for over 2,100 projects for highway and non-highway modes (aviation, rail, bicycle and pedestrian, ferry and public transportation) across North Carolina. These projects were scored through the data-driven scoring approach called Strategic Prioritization.
Division engineers, along with metropolitan and rural planning organizations, collected public input and ranked potential projects, as required by law.
To calculate a final score for each project, NCDOT combined the technical score and the score used to rank the project by the division engineer, MPO or RPO. Those on the statewide level were scored based entirely on data.
NCDOT used these final scores – along with environmental and engineering information – to create a draft of the 2020-2029 State Transportation Improvement Program, encompassing approximately 1,700 projects.
After the release of the Draft STIP in January 2019, NCDOT hosted regional information sessions in the spring to gather public input on the process that produced the Draft STIP. Feedback was also collected online.
In August 2019, NCDOT released the final draft of the 2020-2029 STIP, which included both new projects and schedule adjustments. This version included 1,319 highway projects, 86 aviation, 234 bicycle and pedestrian, 6 ferry, 23 public transit, and 50 rail projects.
STIP Approval
NCDOT then accepted further public comment, before the Board of Transportation approved the final STIP in September 2019.
This STIP is pending federal approval, which is expected to be completed in March 2020.