North Carolina has changed dramatically over the last 20 years and will continue to do so well into the 21st century. Change in travel patterns, increase in population and vehicle miles traveled, and burgeoning domestic and international trade are all putting additional strains on North Carolina's transportation system. In an renewed effort to enhance and preserve the backbone of the highway system, the Department of Transportation in collaboration with the Department of Commerce and Department of Environment and Natural Resources created the Strategic Highway Corridors (SHC) initiative. The SHC initiative represents a timely effort to protect and maximize the mobility and connectivity on a core set of highway corridors throughout North Carolina, while promoting environmental stewardship through maximizing the use of existing facilities to the extent possible, and fostering economic prosperity through the quick and efficient movement of people and goods. Each Corridor represents an opportunity for NCDOT, partnering agencies, and other stakeholders to consider a long-term vision, consistency in decision-making, land use partnerships, and overarching design and operational changes.

The primary purpose of the Strategic Highway Corridors initiative is to provide a network of high-speed, safe, reliable highways throughout North Carolina. A primary goal is to create a greater consensus towards the development of a genuine vision for each Corridor - specifically towards the identification of the desired facility type (freeway, expressway, boulevard, or thoroughfare) for each Corridor. Buy-in towards this vision and desired facility type would affect decision-making through the project improvement process, i.e., affecting funding decisions, project planning decisions, design decisions, access decisions (driveway permit approval), and local land use decisions.

This initiative has undergone a number of changes over the course of the past two years. Initially, a set of criteria was developed to guide the Corridor selection process. These criteria focused on mobility, connectivity to activity centers, connectivity to interstates, interstate relief routes, major hurricane evacuation routes, and corridors that are part of a national or statewide highway system. Activity centers include urban areas with a population of 20,000 or greater, state seaports, major airports, major intermodal terminals, major military installations, University of North Carolina system campuses, trauma centers, and major tourist attractions. Input from public forums and from members of the North Carolina Board of Transportation (BOT) and NCDOT Operations staff have also been instrumental in further refining and improving this concept. The result is a long-range highway planning vision for the state, illustrated by a vision map with the proposed facility types and documented as a set of recommended Corridors. The 5400 miles of designated Strategic Highway Corridors, which include existing and proposed interstates, account for only 7% of the State's Highway System, but carry 45% of the traffic.

Implementation efforts of the initiative focus on six different areas:

• Education. Educating all stakeholders on the initiative on a continual basis to ensure those in-volved are aware of the latest activities and policies.



• Long-Range Planning. Individual Comprehensive Transportation Plans will incorporate the long-term vision of each Corridor. Additionally, a series of corridor studies may be undertaken to define needs, issues, and unique challenges of each Corridor. These studies provide all stakeholders an opportunity to be involved at the beginning of the planning process.



• Project Planning and Design. Projects along Corridors will be developed in a manner to achieve the long-term vision and goals of the initiative.



• Land Use. Consistent and compatible land use decisions are needed to support the goals of the initiative. Mechanisms will be developed to assist local jurisdictions in helping to protect mobility along the corridors.



• Corridor Protection. Managing development along the Corridors is essential for achieving the long-term vision for each facility. Tools, techniques, and strategies will be identified for protecting the Corridors, such as the use of access management.



• Driveway Permit and Traffic Signals. All driveway permits and traffic signal requests along the Corridors will be carefully examined for consistency with the long-term vision for the corridor. Driveway consolidation and sharing will be highly encouraged, and alternative solutions to traffic signals will be sought.

View the Strategic Highway Corridors Brochure (2.6 MB).

View the Strategic Highway Corridors Policy Statement (712 KB).