2020-2029 STIP Development

The N.C. Department of Transportation's transportation plan – called the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) – identifies the construction funding and schedule for state transportation projects over a 10-year period. NCDOT updates the STIP approximately every two years to reflect the state's current financial situation.

The Strategic Transportation Investments (STI) law also mandates ongoing evaluation and improvement to ensure that the process responds to North Carolina's diverse needs. This is accomplished by a prioritization work group consisting primarily of professional engineers and transportation planners.

The data-driven process to update the STIP is called Strategic Prioritization. The current cycle to update the STIP for the years 2020-2029 is called Prioritization 5.0 or P5.0. It started in summer 2017 when NCDOT divisions and local planning organizations gathered public feedback on projects, which then were submitted for evaluation and scoring.

Development Timeline

Overview

*Future dates are preliminary and subject to change

Completed Steps

Data Scores & Statewide Mobility Project List Released

On April 3, 2018, NCDOT released the data scores for 2,146 highway, aviation, bicycle-pedestrian, transit, rail and ferry projects evaluated for the future 2020-2029 STIP. The scoring is based on criteria established in accordance with the STI law.

The release of these scores also includes the projects that are expected to be funded in the Statewide Mobility category – one of three categories in which NCDOT distributes funding. Statewide Mobility projects are ranked according to their data scores. They receive 40 percent of the funds available for all project construction. The remaining 60 percent of available project funds is divided equally between the two remaining categories, Regional Impact and Division Needs.

Projects that were evaluated and received data scores include:

• Those scheduled for right-of-way acquisition or construction in the last five years of the 2018-2027 STIP (the current STIP). These projects are in the developmental stage. (Projects scheduled in the first five years of the STIP are committed for funding and are not subject to being rescored.)
  
• Resubmitted projects that were scored in previous prioritization cycles but not funded.
  
• New projects.
  

Releasing all project scores together helps NCDOT divisions and local planning organizations decide how to rank projects in the Regional and Division categories. Projects that did not score high enough to be funded in the Statewide category can be considered and potentially funded in either the Regional or Division category.

Projects in the Regional and Division categories receive their scores and are funded based on a combination of data and local input.

Public Comment Period on Regional Impact Projects

From June 4 through July 9, 2018, NCDOT’s 14 divisions received public comment on how they plan to rank Regional and Division projects. This ranking involves assigning what are called "local input points" in accordance with each division’s established methodology, as required by law.

Each division’s preliminary and final Regional local input point assignments can be viewed here.

Metropolitan and rural planning organizations also have established methodologies to assign local input points.

After receiving feedback from the public, NCDOT divisions and planning organizations separately assigned local input points to projects in the Regional category. NCDOT then combined the local input points with the data scores to generate total scores for each Regional Impact project.

Regional Impact Project List Released

On Aug. 30, 2018, NCDOT released the total scores (reflecting data scores and all local input) of projects in the Regional Impact category, including those that did not score high enough to be funded in the Statewide Mobility category.

The release of these scores also identified the projects that are expected to be funded in the Regional Impact category.