The N.C. Department of Transportation's transportation plan – called the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) – identifies the construction funding and schedule for projects over a 10-year period. NCDOT updates the STIP approximately every two years.
The
Strategic Transportation Investments (STI) law mandates ongoing evaluation and improvement to ensure the process responds to North Carolina's diverse needs. This is accomplished by a prioritization workgroup consisting primarily of professional engineers and transportation planners.
The data-driven process to update the STIP is called
Strategic Prioritization. The cycle to update the STIP for 2024-2033 — called Prioritization 6.0 or P6.0 — began in fall 2019 when NCDOT divisions and local planning organizations started gathering public feedback on projects, which were be submitted for evaluation and scoring. Final data scores for these submitted projects will be completed in fall 2021.
Due to rising costs for projects funded in the currently adopted 2020-2029 STIP, little to no funding is projected to be available for projects in P6.0. Therefore, on Aug. 4, 2021, the P6.0 Workgroup and the NC Board of Transportation decided to halt the P6.0 process. After completing final data scores, P6.0 will not continue with the Local Input Point assignment or finalizing total project scores. The 2024-2033 STIP will be developed using existing projects from the currently adopted 2020-2029 STIP.
Development Timeline
Overview
| Milestone | Dates* |
|---|
Project submissions
| October 2019 - Aug. 31, 2020
|
Quantitative scores for all projects released
|
End of September 2021
|
Division Needs Local Input Point assignment window (including public comment)
| February 2022 - April 2022
|
Draft 2024-2033 STIP released
| Fall 2022
|
Draft STIP public comment period
| Spring 2022
|
2024-2033 STIP approved by Board of Transportation
| Summer 2023
|
*Future dates are preliminary and subject to change