Gaston County Presents 25-Year Comprehensive Transportation Plan; 97 Highway Projects and 300+ Bike/Ped Projects Documented

Erin Musial of consultant RS&H presented the Gaston County Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP) update on April 14, describing it as a 25-year, multimodal, needs-based plan required by the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

Musial said the CTP identifies 97 highway projects (including STIP and MTP entries), more than 300 bicycle and pedestrian projects, and a suite of project sheets that document extent, capacity timing, environmental and Title VI impacts and resiliency considerations. She said the plan is intended to identify needs without fiscal constraint; project scoring and funding prioritization occur later in Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) and MPO processes.

Public engagement included a stakeholder committee of about 30 members (four meetings), an in-person booth at "Get to Know Gaston," and two rounds of public outreach: the first generated nearly 500 survey responses and the second produced almost 1,500 comments and votes on recommended projects, Musial said.

Commissioners asked where the CTP fits in state and MPO scoring; Musial clarified the CTP documents needs and that prioritization and scoring occur later when candidate projects move into the MTP and state processes. Commissioner Jim Bailey and others raised congestion on South Point Road in Belmont as a local example; Musial said the plan contains project sheets that document current and future capacity concerns and that the MPO scoring phase determines which projects are advanced for funding.

Musial said next steps include presenting the plan to the Gaston-Cleveland-Lincoln Metropolitan Planning Organization (GCL MPO) and NCDOT for adoption.