GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION LAW 2001-168
AN ACT TO UPDATE AND MODIFY THE PROCESS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF COORDINATED TRANSPORTATION PLANS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. G.S. 136-66.2 reads as rewritten:
"§ 136-66.2.
Development of a coordinated transportation street system and
provisions for streets and highways in and around municipalities.
(a) Each municipality,
not located within a metropolitan planning organization (MPO) as recognized in
G.S. 136-200.1, with the cooperation of the Department of Transportation,
shall develop a comprehensive transportation plan for a street system
that will serve present and anticipated travel demand volumes of
vehicular traffic in and around the municipality. The plan shall be based
on the best information available including, but not limited to, population
growth, economic conditions and prospects, and patterns of land development in
and around the municipality, and shall provide for the safe and effective use
of the transportation system. streets and highways through such means
as parking regulations, signal systems, and traffic signs, markings,
construction and other devices. In the development of the plan,
consideration shall be given to all transportation modes including, but not
limited to, the street system, transit alternatives, bicycle, pedestrian, and
operating strategies. The Department of Transportation may provide
financial and technical assistance in the preparation of such plans. Each
MPO, with cooperation of the Department of Transportation, shall develop a
comprehensive transportation plan in accordance with 23 U.S.C. § 134. In
addition, an MPO may include projects in its transportation plan that are not
included in a financially constrained plan or are anticipated to be needed
beyond the horizon year as required by 23 U.S.C. § 134. For municipalities
located within an MPO, the development of a comprehensive transportation plan
will take place through the metropolitan planning organization. For purposes of
transportation planning and programming, the MPO shall represent the
municipality’s interests to the Department of Transportation.
(b) After completion and
analysis of the plan, the plan shall may be adopted by both the
governing body of the municipality or MPO and the Department of
Transportation as the basis for future transportation street and
highway improvements in and around the municipality or within the MPO.
As a part of the plan, the The governing body of the municipality
and the Department of Transportation shall reach agreement as to which of the
existing and proposed streets and highways included in the adopted plan
will be a part of the State highway system and which streets will be a part of
the municipal street system. As used in this Article, the State highway system
shall mean both the primary highway system of the State and the secondary road
system of the State within municipalities.
(b1) The Department of Transportation may participate in the development and adoption of a transportation plan or updated transportation plan when all local governments within the area covered by the transportation plan have adopted land development plans within the previous five years. The Department of Transportation may participate in the development of a transportation plan if all the municipalities and counties within the area covered by the transportation plan are in the process of developing a land development plan. The Department of Transportation may not adopt or update a transportation plan until a local land development plan has been adopted. A qualifying land development plan may be a comprehensive plan, land use plan, master plan, strategic plan, or any type of plan or policy document that expresses a jurisdiction's goals and objectives for the development of land within that jurisdiction. At the request of the local jurisdiction, the Department may review and provide comments on the plan but shall not provide approval of the land development plan.
(b2) The municipality or the MPO shall provide opportunity for public comments prior to adoption of the transportation plan.
(b3) Each county, with the cooperation of the Department of Transportation, may develop a comprehensive transportation plan utilizing the procedures specified for municipalities in subsection (a) of this section. This plan may be adopted by both the governing body of the county and the Department of Transportation. For portions of a county located within an MPO, the development of a comprehensive transportation plan shall take place through the metropolitan planning organization.
(b4) To complement the roadway element of the transportation plan, municipalities and MPOs may develop a collector street plan to assist in developing the roadway network. The Department of Transportation may review and provide comments but is not required to provide approval of the collector street plan.
(c) From and after the date that the plan is adopted, the streets and highways designated in the plan as the responsibility of the Department of Transportation shall become a part of the State highway system and all such system streets shall be subject to the provisions of G.S. 136-93, and all streets designated in the plan as the responsibility of the municipality shall become a part of the municipal street system.
(d) For municipalities
not located within an MPO, either Either the municipality or the
Department of Transportation may propose changes in the plan at any time by
giving notice to the other party, but no change shall be effective until it is
adopted by both the Department of Transportation and the municipal governing
board. For MPOs, either the MPO or the Department of Transportation may
propose changes in the plan at any time by giving notice to the other party,
but no change shall be effective until it is adopted by both the Department of
Transportation and the MPO.
(e) Until the adoption of
a comprehensive transportation plan that includes for future
development of the street system in and around municipalities, the Department
of Transportation and any municipality may reach an agreement as to which
existing or proposed streets and highways within the municipal boundaries shall
be added to or removed from the State highway system.
(f) Streets within municipalities which are on the State highway system as of July 1, 1959, shall continue to be on that system until changes are made as provided in this section.
(g) The street and highway elements of the plans developed pursuant to G.S. 136-66.2 shall serve as the plan referenced in G.S. 136-66.10(a)."
SECTION 2. This act is effective when it becomes law and applies to plans adopted on or after the effective date.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 28th day of May, 2001.
s/ Beverly E. Perdue
President of the Senate
s/ Joe Hackney
Speaker Pro Tempore of the House of Representatives
s/ Michael F. Easley
Governor
Approved 8:59 a.m. this 7th day of June, 2001