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5 <br /> <br />2) Submission of Projects to the STI Process <br /> <br />For the 2026-2035 TIP, the DCHC MPO submitted projects to NCDOT’s SPOT office by <br />October 2023 for the application of the NCDOT’s quantitative ranking methodology. The <br />MPO is limited in the number of new projects that may be submitted for each mode <br />(highway, bicycle and pedestrian, public transportation, aviation, ferry and rail), but can <br />submit an additional project for each existing project removed from the system. NCDOT <br />Division Engineers can also submit projects for each of their Divisions but are also limited in <br />the number of new projects per mode that may be submitted. <br /> <br />DCHC MPO will combine the local priority lists into a list that the MPO will use to prioritize <br />projects for submission. In the event that more highway, bicycle and pedestrian, public <br />transportation, or rail projects are submitted to the MPO than the MPO is allowed submit to <br />NCDOT, the DCHC MPO will work with a TC subcommittee to select projects based the <br />NCDOT scoring criteria for each mode. For Prioritization 7.0 there were no ferry or aviation <br />projects submitted within the DCHC MPO area. DCHC MPO will request that the Division <br />Engineers submit any additional projects that the DCHC MPO may not be able to submit <br />because the MPO is limited in the number of projects that may be submitted. <br /> <br />DCHC MPO Preliminary Project Ranking <br /> <br />Highway Projects <br />Highway projects may be scored and funded by any of the three funding categories <br />(Statewide, Regional, or Division), dependent on the criteria as set forth in the STI law. The <br />SPOT Workgroup has developed a different highway project scoring process for each of the <br />three funding categories. <br /> <br />For SPOT 7.0, highway projects have been broken out into two specific improvement types, <br />modernization and mobility. Modernization projects have a different set of default criteria <br />and weights, and primarily consists of roadway modernization projects and projects to <br />upgrade freeways to interstate standards. All other projects are mobility projects, which add <br />capacity to roadways. <br /> <br />The DCHC MPO will use the scoring processes developed by NCDOT to preliminarily rank <br />projects to be submitted to NCDOT SPOT for evaluation. A project that is eligible for the <br />Statewide funding category but is not funded under that category can cascade down to the <br />Regional category for evaluation and possible funding. If the project is not funded under the <br />Regional category, the project may cascade down to the Division category for evaluation <br />and possible funding. <br /> <br />The NCDOT SPOT process limits the number of projects that MPOs may submit. In the <br />event that more new project requests are received than the MPO can submit, the DCHC <br />MPO will prioritize projects based on the scoring criteria developed by the SPOT 7.0 <br />Workgroup that were submitted to the NCDOT Board of Transportation in summer 2023. In <br />addition to the SPOT criteria, DCHC will also consider subcommittee member input, public <br />input, local priority, and funding availability. Each of these criteria will be weighted equally at <br />20%, and projects with the highest scores were submitted to NCDOT for quantitative <br />evaluation. <br /> <br />For Prioritization 7.0, the default weights were used by all Divisions within the DCHC MPO <br />boundaries. Alternate criteria are not an option for non-highway projects. <br />