I previously posted about the Tryon Road, Part C project being included in the City of Raleigh’s 10-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). But there were lots of questions about what that really means. Is there really money set aside or is it just a placeholder? I did some research and got input from all the players involved in the final phase of the Tryon Road project in South West Raleigh: City of Raleigh, Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO), and North Carolina Department of Transportation’s (NCDOT).
Tryon Road project, courtesy, Anthony McLeod
One of my biggest concerns is the orchestration for the Tryon Road project, including the bridge replacement, between all three organizations. Mainly because parts of the project are getting funding now and others are falling short.
Tryon Road, Part C was listed in the Raleigh CIP Phase 1, which represents the next five years and only lists funds from the city–it does not include state or federal funding. CAMPO and NCDOT do not have a role in approving the CIP budget, the priorities and allocated amounts are decided by Raleigh City Council.
Tryon Road, Part C, $4,253,000. This project is scheduled to begin in FY14 and be completed in FY15. Tryon Road will be widened to a four-lane median-divided section from Lake Wheeler Road to the Norfolk Southern railroad bridge. There also will be curb and gutter, sidewalks, streetlights and bicycle lanes on both sides.
Does being listed in Raleigh’s CIP phase 1 mean the money is allocated?
Eric J. Lamb, PE, Transportation Services Division Manager for the City of Raleigh Public Works Department, weighs in:
“Raleigh develops a ten-year capital improvement program, which is reviewed and updated annually. Phase I is the first five years of that ten-year plan, and projects in Phase I are deemed “funded.” However, in the most technical sense, the first year of the plan is the most critical and represents actual monetary commitments, which is booked in our financial system as expenditure accounts. Phase I also represents projections for revenues and project funding sources.
In other words, a project in the CIP gets funded as a capital project. The CIP is a parallel budget for capital projects, as opposed to the operating budget. ”
So far so good. Tryon Road, Part C is only one part of a three-part concert. The other two pieces are the NCDOT U-4432 project,better known as the Tryon Road bridge replacement (which is not funded) and the Tryon Road connections around Renaissance Park (not funded either).
The next question you might ask yourself is how a project gets funding from the NCDOT. Let’s take a look at something called the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). First, the TIP is similar to Raleigh’s CIP. The Raleigh Capital Improvement Program focuses on the capital projects within Raleigh’s jurisdiction and the NDCOT Transportation Improvement Program is state-wide funding mechanism and priority list for road projects.
Now it starts to get a little complicated. CAMPO and NCDOT need to agree on the projects in the Transportation Improvement Program for the greater Raleigh area. For this project, CAMPO’s role is to act as the coordinating agency between Raleigh and NCDOT.
Ed Johnson, Director of North Carolina’s Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) told us that NCDOT’s draft TIP for FY 11-20 was just released [August 5th] and did not include funding for the Tryon Road bridge replacement. Johnson said, “We are hopeful that it will be added in before the final version is adopted in mid-2011.” He advocated that “continued support for seeing this much-needed project get funded remains very important to this happening.”
Where did it rank? 26th!
Why isn’t the Tryon Road bridge replacement in the NCDOT draft Transportation Improvement Plan?
This is the ultimate question. Or better yet, how can we influence this? This is a tough one. The main thing hurting Tryon Road is its’ subregional classification. Unfortunate for those interested in seeing the project move forward, it’s the lowest of three tiers. When the NCDOT changed how they prioritized projects they created three classification tiers:
- Statewide – which includes Interstates,
- Regional – the US and NC routes, and
- Subregional – which includes secondary roads such as Tryon Road
Projects are now prioritized based on a qualitative and quantitative score, which is designed to remove political influence on NCDOT projects and provide a more transparent and strategic approach. According to Wally Bowman , Division 5 Engineer with NCDOT, CAMPO and NCDOT each had an opportunity to rank their top 25 projects. Bowman said, “The bridge replacement on Tryon Road was included in NCDOT’s list of 25 projects, but not in CAMPO’s list.”
Remember that CAMPO deals with projects from more that just Raleigh, and NCDOT’s Division 5 jurisdiction is not the same as CAMPO’s. Ultimately, the Tryon Road bridge project did not score enough to make the NCDOT draft Transportation Improvement Plan.
What can citizens do to advocate for the Tryon Road bridge replacement?
One thing that Bowman mentioned has been sticking with me. He said, “This is a draft and there will be opportunities over the next several months to receive comments from the MPO and citizens for suggested changes.”
This sounds like it will involve becoming a little more intimate with the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). A quick search for the U-4432 project (search by zip code 27603) shows that it received a “Low Prioritization Score” and is scheduled for re-prioritization in 2012. With that timeline, there is hope that this project could align with Tryon Road, Part C, slotted to start in Raleigh’s FY14.
But there are few things we can prepare for, instead of just waiting for 2012 to roll around.
- According to the transformation reform page, the public has about nine months to comment on the draft STIP. I think we need to prepare some well-researched comments and participate in this process.
- Better understand the difference between NCDOT Division 5′s project wish list and CAMPO’s project wish list. Why is the bridge project on one list, but not making the other?
Tags: CAMPO, cip, division 5, ncdot, raleigh, renaissance_park, STIP, TIP, transportation_plan, tryon_road, wake county
[...] Organization (CAMPO), and North Carolina Department of Transportation’s (NCDOT)]” – Tryon Road Falls Short in NCDOT Draft Transportation Plan Tryon Road project, courtesy, Anthony [...]