Regional planner explains NCDOT prioritization: projects scored, local input matters; projects may take years
Summary
Sam Boswell of the Cape Fear RPO described the state's strategic prioritization process (P8.0), explained why some projects score better at different funding tiers and urged the town to consider local overmatch and other strategies to improve competitiveness; he warned projects taken through this process can take five years or more.
Sam Boswell, transportation planner with the Cape Fear Council of Governments and the region’s RPO, briefed the council on NCDOT’s strategic prioritization (P8.0) and the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). He described the three funding tiers (statewide, regional, division), how a numeric rubric produces final scores, and how local input points and local match can affect a project’s competitiveness.
"At best, best case scenario, projects through this prioritization process will take at least 5 years, and that is very optimistic," Boswell told the council, stressing that the process is slow and strategic adjustments to project design and local overmatch can materially affect scores. He also noted that bicycle and pedestrian projects are eligible only at the division tier and that local matching funds — or willingness to overmatch — improves the cost-effectiveness portion of a score.
Boswell reviewed specific projects of interest to Oak Island: upgrades to the US 17/NC 211 intersection; two NC 211 segments (Midway/Middleton West toward Sunset Harbor Road and the segment that continues to US 17, which is in the GSATS planning area); NC 906 improvements; a sidewalk concept on East Oak Island Drive (Northeast 56th to 65th) and widened bike lanes on East Beach Drive. He explained why some projects have stronger congestion or safety percentiles and urged the council to engage in local planning and consider grant or local-match strategies to accelerate high-priority bicycle and pedestrian improvements.
Council members asked how to use the RPO information when budgeting and whether starting a local project (for example, a sidewalk or greenway on Yacht Drive) would preclude submitting it to the RPO scoring process. Boswell said doing local work does not automatically preclude state submittal — but eligibility and scoring effects depend on specific project details — and suggested coordination with RPO staff to optimize both local and state strategies.
AI generated
The text on this page is AI generated. Summaries, highlights, analysis, and video transcripts are all produced from the original source material.
AI can make mistakes, so if you spot one, and we will fix it for everyone.
Note: the source content is unaltered by us. Any content source we link to, be it a video, an audio recording, or a document, is presented exactly as its publisher released it. That publisher is usually a government body, sometimes an individual official or another organisation.
