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Wilmington MPO presents 'Cape Fear Navigating Change 2050' plan and priority projects affecting Brunswick County
Summary
The Wilmington Urban Area MPO briefed commissioners on its newly adopted 2050 Metropolitan Transportation Plan, detailing public outreach results, the plan’s goals and the priority projects submitted by Brunswick County; the plan is fiscally constrained and lists alternative funding options to address a funding shortfall.
Carolyn Caggia, a transportation planner with the Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (WMPO), presented the region’s newly adopted Metropolitan Transportation Plan, titled 'Cape Fear Navigating Change 2050.' The plan, Caggia said, sets a 25-year vision for transportation across the MPO’s region and was adopted by the WMPO board on Oct. 29.
Caggia outlined federal requirements for MTPs — a multimodal, fiscally constrained plan consistent with local land-use plans — and summarized the plan’s development timeline and public-outreach efforts. She told commissioners the outreach produced more than 2,300 survey responses, 3,200 map comments and nearly 6,000 map pins; the top current and future priorities cited by respondents were safety, cost, convenience and congestion relief.
The plan establishes five guiding goals — safe, fair, connected, resilient and proactive — and uses objective criteria tied to those goals to prioritize roadway, bicycle and pedestrian, transit, ferry, rail and other projects. Caggia noted the plan identifies priority projects submitted by Brunswick County and encourages member jurisdictions to integrate the MTP into local planning and use it during project scoping and when pursuing funding opportunities.
Because projected transportation funding falls short of identified needs, the WMPO evaluated alternative funding options that member jurisdictions could consider locally, including a quarter-cent local sales tax, vehicle-registration fees and transportation bonds. Caggia said high-ranking projects with estimated costs within the financial forecast are classified as fiscally constrained and recommended for implementation.
The presentation concluded with instructions on where to obtain the final plan and appendices; the plan is available on the WMPO website and as hard copies at the WMPO office and member-jurisdiction planning offices.
