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North Carolina

Processes For Consultation And Cooperation With Local Officials In Non-Metropolitan Areas

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) directly administers all rural roadway projects and provides technical assistance for rural public transportation services, which are administered locally. The consultative process between NCDOT and rural areas covers both planning and programming.

The Legislature passed enabling legislation for rural planning organizations (RPOs) during the 2000 session, although no state money has been appropriated to support the RPO planning functions. Under the enabling legislation, from 3 to 15 counties can request to be recognized as an RPO. The four mandatory functions of an RPO are to 1) cooperate with NCDOT in the development of a long range transportation plan; 2) recommend TIP priorities to local governments and NCDOT; 3) participate with NCDOT in the public involvement process; and 4) serve as an information clearinghouse on local and state transportation issues. RPOs are formed through memoranda of understanding between NCDOT and the participating counties. MOUs can define any additional responsibilities that the parties agree to include. The participation and role of local elected officials will be determined by the MOU. It is the intent of the legislation that this be as flexible as possible to address the unique needs and interests of each individual RPO.

The Statewide Transportation Planning Committee develops the state's 20-year long-range, multi-modal transportation plan. The committee consists of NCDOT, FHWA, MPOs and other state department representatives. The long-range transportation systems planning process assistance provided by NCDOT's Statewide Planning Branch covers all modes of importance to the affected local governments. State law requires cooperative development of a street and highway systems plan to serve current and future vehicle traffic. The plan is to be mutually adopted by both the local governing boards and the state. Additionally, at their request, NCDOT will work with municipalities and counties to develop long-range system transportation plans. The level of participation of local elected officials is determined by those individuals.

The Planning Branch provides advisory assistance to local governments upon request on land use and economic development issues that impact the transportation system. Also, NCDOT has provided transportation planning services upon request to the one Tribal Government in the state. Representatives of the U.S. Forest Service, FHWA, and NCDOT meet annually to cooperatively develop the Public Lands Highway Program for North Carolina.

NCDOT provides assistance to localities on short-term public transportation plans. Each county must have a locally endorsed, NCDOT approved, transportation development plan to receive federal and state public transportation funds. NCDOT assists in the preparation of these plans, which are usually prepared under guidance of a steering committee of transportation providers and users; a member of the county governing board as well as the county manager also usually serve on this committee. NCDOT also assists localities in preparation of short-term traffic operations plans.

The STIP covers seven years and is updated biannually. Two sets of public meetings are held during this two-year cycle. The first meetings are held before the development of the draft TIP as input into the draft. The second round of hearings are held between the issuance of the draft and the adoption of the final TIP. All local governments are specifically invited to attend and are asked to provide comments. Also, state law requires NCDOT to notify all municipalities and counties affected by a planned transportation project over $250,000 and allow them a minimum of 45 days to comment before final state action. Projects in rural areas are selected by NCDOT using comments received through the public involvement meetings and other public input (letters, web site, customer service information calls, etc.) In addition, by law, each of the state's 14 highway divisions has a Board of Transportation member who is specifically charged with the responsibility of representing the transportation needs of his/her area in the development of the TIP. Central office and division staff meet with the Board member to solicit their input and perspectives in the development of the TIP for each area.

Local elected officials may participate in the rural transportation planning process by working with the councils of governments and participating on the advisory and technical committees. Although councils of government have no formal transportation planning role, some have created special internal groups to address these issues, to interface with NCDOT, or in some cases to form partnerships to address regional issues. Also, elected county officials from counties located within metropolitan planning areas have seats on the MPO policy board and county planning officials are members of the technical coordinating committee.

Rural transportation is funded by federal and state funds. Public transportation is funded with federal, state and local funds. State law establishes a formula for distribution of all projects (with some exceptions) funded through the Transportation Improvement Program. The formula NCDOT uses to distribute state and federal funds among 7 funding regions is based on population (50%), intrastate system miles (25%), and equal shares (25%).

North Carolina uses these practices:

State Processes to Compile Transportation Needs: The state conducts studies at local request.
State Hearings: Annual meetings present STIP and allow local officials/public opportunity to comment.
Other Practices: State law requires that the street and highway systems plan be mutually adopted by both the local governing boards and the state. The state uses letters, a web-site and phone contacts to obtain input.

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