In June 2023, the N.C. Board of Transportation adopted the 2024-2033 State Transportation Improvement Program (see document below), which identifies transportation projects that will receive funding from 2024 to 2033.
The document is the fourth 10-year plan developed under the 2013
Strategic Transportation Investments law and consists of more than 2,300 projects across North Carolina. Most of these projects were identified through a data-driven scoring approach called Strategic Prioritization.
2024-2033 STIP Development
Due to rising costs for projects funded in the previously adopted 2020-2029 STIP, little to no funding was projected to be available for new projects in the 2024-2033 STIP timeframe.
Therefore, in August 2021, a workgroup recommended and the N.C. Board of Transportation approved the current prioritization cycle be halted. The decision was made to develop the 2024-2033 STIP using existing projects from the previously adopted 2020-2029 STIP.
The conclusion of the prioritization cycle was the release of the quantitative scores and the local input point procedure was halted. The workgroup was reconvened to finalize the methodology and procedures used for this one-time STIP development exception, and the Board of Transportation approved the process. Projects with current construction schedules in the first three years of the STIP (2024-2027), projects with right of way actively underway, and those with federal grants were funded first; followed by a seniority approach of combined factors such as oldest prioritization cycle and highest scoring projects. There were no newly submitted projects from the P6.0 prioritization cycle included in the 2024-2033 STIP.
The initial 2024-2033 Draft STIP was released in April 2022. Fortunately, during the summer 2022 legislative session, the Department received additional revenues through sales tax. A revised 2024-2033 Draft STIP was released in August of 2022 followed by a public comment period in fall 2022.
Additionally, after the release of the August 2022 revised draft, there was ample coordination time with our MPO/RPO partners to do schedule swaps if feasible and desired. NCDOT Division Offices held weeklong open houses between September and October 2022 to receive public input.
STIP Approval
The N.C. Board of Transportation adopted the 2024-2033 STIP at its June 2023 meeting. NCDOT is awaiting final approval of the STIP by the Federal Highway Administration, which is anticipated by the end of September 2023.