R-2814 Highway Improvements and Environmentally Sensitive Areas

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) maintains one of the largest public road systems in the country. To help in maximizing state resources, the NCDOT developed the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). This program serves as the blueprint for transportation projects across the state. The 2004–2010 TIP includes approximately 2,800 transportation improvement projects in North Carolina. This $10.2 billion plan focuses on issues of great concern to citizens' mobility, safety, the environment, and fiscal responsibility.

To fulfill the TIP plan, projects must undergo extensive environmental review. The more environmentally sensitive the region through which a project is proposed, the more extensive analysis is required.

This map focuses on TIP project R-2814 in Wake and Franklin counties. The project crosses several environmentally sensitive areas such as streams designated as "High Quality and Outstanding Resource Waters" and "High Quality Water Zones." Planners and decision makers use this information to further evaluate the viability, cost, and scheduling of TIP projects. In addition, this information allows savings in time and cost as the information can be viewed and analyzed relative to any other related data set. The result quickly shows environmental impacts. The return on investment for this product is time saving by not needing to collate disparate data sources and manually quantify the analysis.