RALEIGH – The N.C. Department of Transportation today unveiled its draft 10-Year transportation plan for 2020-29 at the monthly Board of Transportation meeting in Raleigh.

The plan, called the Draft 2020-29 State Transportation Improvement Program, includes 19 new highway projects in Division 8. The division covers Chatham, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, Richmond and Scotland counties.

The department’s 10-year plan is updated every two years. Projects scheduled in the first five years are considered committed and are not re-evaluated, but projects in the final five years of each 10-year plan are reprioritized for consideration in the next plan. The Board of Transportation is expected to adopt the plan this summer.

The 19 new highway projects in Division 8 include:

— Convert nearly 10 miles of U.S. 74 to interstate standards between Hamlet in Richmond County and Laurinburg in Scotland County, with construction to start in 2029;

— Reconstruct the Moore County intersection of U.S. 15/501 and Morganton Road into an interchange with a bridge, with construction starting in 2028;

— Extend Lee Avenue so it creates a new intersection with Commerce Drive in Sanford, with construction beginning in 2027;

— Widen N.C. 49 between Waynick Meadow Road and Old N.C. 49 in Randolph County, with construction commencing in 2029; and

— Widen U.S. 15/501 between N.C. 2 and N.C. 11 in Pinehurst, with a 2027 construction start date.

One project has been accelerated:

— Construct the four-lane Rockingham Bypass (Future I-73/74) on a new location from west of the city of Rockingham to Harrington Road in Richmond County. Construction has been accelerated from 2026 to 2020.

Among the projects with a schedule adjustment is:

— Widen N.C. 211 between U.S. 15/501 in Aberdeen and West Palmer Street in Hoke County. To assist with balancing funding, the start of construction has been delayed by one year to 2023.

“It’s wonderful to see these kind of highway projects become funded for our area, especially the continued upgrades to U.S. 220 and U.S. 74,” said Patrick Molamphy, the state Board of Transportation member representing Division 8. “We use a data-driven process that also uses local input in order to prioritize what we build and where we build it.”

The draft STIP includes projects across all transportation modes and in all 100 counties in the state. The list includes 1,266 highway projects; 86 aviation; 235 bicycle and pedestrian; six ferry; 23 public transit; and 47 rail projects selected on statewide, regional and division levels. The projects were prioritized based on technical data as well as input from local officials and residents.

The draft plan includes about 500 changes in major highway projects from the current STIP. Half of the changes include new road projects. Also, there were about 200 projects where a schedule was changed for planning or budgeting needs, and 10 projects whose schedules were accelerated.

Another 24 projects on the current STIP didn’t score high enough this time to remain in the new draft plan. A statewide list of these major highway changes can be found on the NCDOT STIP web page.

Projects that did not score high enough in the evaluation process to be funded at the statewide level rolled over to the regional level for consideration. Projects that were not funded at the regional level could still be considered at the division level. This cascading aspect of the process helps ensure that local input plays an important role in prioritizing projects for funding. More information about the STIP and how transportation projects are funded is available on the NCDOT website.

Division 8 will host an in-house week-long public comment opportunity in February or March during normal business hours. It will be a chance for people to review maps and handouts about projects, ask questions of local staff and submit comments. There will also be an opportunity for residents to submit comments online, with those details to be announced later.