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COG planner outlines long‑range Columbus County transportation plan, highlights possible rail link to Wilmington
Summary
Cape Fear COG transportation planner Sam Boswell presented the Columbus County Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP), a 20–30 year multimodal needs assessment that identifies congestion hot spots, safety priorities and a potential rail connection to Wilmington as an economic and transit opportunity.
Sam Boswell, transportation planner for the Cape Fear Council of Governments, presented the Columbus County Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP) to the council and explained how the plan is intended as a long‑range, needs‑based multimodal framework.
"CTP, the comprehensive transportation plan, is a needs‑based, long range, multimodal transportation plan," Boswell said, describing the plan's 20‑ to 30‑year horizon, focus on congestion and safety, and inclusion of public transit, rail, bicycle and pedestrian facilities. He said the plan uses a base year of 2022 and projects to 2045 for future volume and capacity assessments.
Boswell pointed to map layers showing crash ‘‘hot spots’’ (2017–2021) and identified intersections and segments that the plan recommends for future safety projects. He also discussed recommendations that would support reestablishing a rail line connecting Whitehall (a candidate hub) to the Port of Wilmington for economic development and transit options, noting that such reestablishment would require further study and coordination with NCDOT and regional partners.
Council members asked whether projected growth was driven primarily by population change; Boswell replied the traffic model relies on historical data, producing volume projections rather than a forecast of explosive population growth, and cautioned that projections could change with different modeling assumptions.
Boswell said the CTP is used to prioritize projects for state funding programs and for documenting need when pursuing grants, and he invited council staff to propose projects for the state's project prioritization process.
