For generations, in North Carolina and across the country decisions on which parts of the state receive millions of dollars for road-project funding were based primarily on the intense personal interest of powerful legislators instead of need. In 2009, Governor Bev Perdue challenged her Department of Transportation to create a new, transparent, data-driven system for prioritizing road projects in all regions of the state.

DOT Director of the strategic planning office for transportation Don Voelker led the project. Last year he implemented a complex software program (Prioritization 1.0) of his own design that scores the relative importance of specific criteria involving safety, flow, and pavement condition. 70 percent of a total score is based on those three categories and the remaining 30 percent is based on feedback from metro and rural planning organizations that list which road projects are most important to the communities they serve.

This fall, the ranking system will be enhanced further with Prioritization 2.0. The economics-based factors to be included in the new software are benefit costs and economic competitiveness.