Context-Sensitive Solutions in the Planning Process: North Carolina's Experience

Abstract

During the past 5 years, there has been a national movement to integrate context-sensitive solutions (CSS) into transportation project planning and design. Applying CSS principles in the long-range planning process would help ensure that projects were CSS friendly from their earliest conception. This possibility has prompted CSS experts to discuss how CSS can be integrated into long-range planning. Two environmental stewardship initiatives under way at the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) provide a unique opportunity to explore this area. In the first initiative, NCDOT has a substantial CSS training program in place. To date, nearly 800 staff members and consultants have attended 3-day CSS training courses. In a separate stewardship initiative, NCDOT is redesigning the traditional thoroughfare plan process to create a new comprehensive transportation plan (CTP) process. Although these two initiatives have not been explicitly connected, this discussion examines how CSS principles are emb...