News from the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO)
Provide feedback on transportation projects!
Are you interested in the transportation projects happening in your area? Provide feedback on the projects that are important to you by taking the survey below:
If you wish to provide feedback directly to the MPO without taking the above survey, please contact Kelly Fomenko at Kelly.Fomenko@dchcmpo.org or call 919-503-4119. The complete list of projects can be found in the "Attachments" section below.
What Is the Strategic Prioritization of Transportation (SPOT) Process?
SPOT is a competitive program run by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT). Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO) is allocated a specific number of project submissions to this program. Those projects compete against projects submitted by other MPOs, Rural Planning Organizations (RPOs), and state divisions across the state, totaling 51 project submitters and thousands of projects. This process happens once every two years leading up to the adoption of a new State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), and projects are scored using a combination of data analysis and local input points. This round is the 7th iteration of this process, known as SPOT 7 or P7, and projects funded in this cycle will be funded in the FY2026-2035 STIP. For this cycle, the MPO has been allocated 24 project submissions per each of the six transportation modes, those being 1) Bicycle & Pedestrian, 2) Transit, 3) Highway, 4) Rail, 5) Ferry, and 6) Aviation. No ferry or aviation projects exist within the MPO boundaries, therefore only projects for modes 1-4 will be submitted.
How Many Projects Get Funded?
Funding for this program is very limited. In fact, the previous SPOT cycle (P6) was cancelled due to lack of funding. Previous successful cycles have resulted in around 12 to 19 DCHC MPO projects being funded with about 70% of those projects being highway projects. Highway projects are more likely to be funded as 90% of all regional and division SPOT funding is reserved for highway projects in addition to there being available funding at the statewide level. Bicycle and Pedestrian projects are less likely to have any projects funded as they are competing with all of the other non-highway modes, such as transit and rail, for about 3.5% of all SPOT funding. Due to the competitive nature of the SPOT process, these project submittal lists have already been reviewed and revised on several occasions to produce a prioritized and competitive list. For additional details on how this scoring and funding process works, click here.
How Will My Feedback Be Used?
Your feedback will be one of the criteria the MPO uses to determine the final 24 project submissions per mode. At this time, each project list exceeds the number of available submissions and needs to be reduced. The MPO will also consider prioritization of projects based on our long-range plans and analyzing projects to ensure those with the greatest scoring potential are submitted.
Are There Other Transportation Projects Happening in My Area?
Absolutely! The recently adopted FY2024-2033 STIP (or our local FY2024-2033 TIP) contains details on projects already programmed for the next 10 years, and the Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) contains planned projects over the next 30 years. The Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP) contains additional projects that are important to the region but were not included in the MTP because the MTP is fiscally constrained and there is not enough expected funding to cover such projects yet. Projects not included in any of these documents may also be funded locally through any of our member jurisdictions or agencies.
Attachments:
Project Lists https://www.dchcmpo.org/home/showpublisheddocument/4288 – These projects are listed in no particular order in terms of priority. Projects with SPOT IDs are those that have been submitted in previous cycles but were not funded. Projects labeled as “Submitted by Others” are not included in the survey as the MPO expects those projects will still be submitted by other agencies and will not be a part of the 24-project allotment per mode.
https://www.dchcmpo.org/home/showpublisheddocument/4286