The Sandhills Metropolitan Planning Organization (SMPO) reviewed crash statistics at its Feb. 19 meeting and agreed to plan projects that contribute to a safety target of reducing fatalities by 20% each year to reach zero fatalities in five-year rolling averages for its MPO resolution.
The trend in the last three years shows the fatality performance measure’s target of zero fatalities by 2030 is not realistic because fatalities have increased.
North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Traffic Safety Measures Engineer Brian Murphy reviewed the Sandhills data trends from law enforcement and said the data covered the Sandhills area, not just the county, from 2015 to 2024.
North Carolina has not made significant progress in achieving its safety performance targets. As a penalty, the state must spend its federal safety funds and report yearly expenditures to the Federal Highway Administration.
The state receives $12 million in yearly preventative safety funds for projects such as rumble strips.
There have been 308,652 reported crashes in the state in 2024, and in Moore County, there were 2,906.
For the state, fatalities in crashes increased during COVID, but in Moore County, fatalities stayed about the same.
Disabling crashes went from 22 to 64 in Moore County.
Bicycle fatalities increased in the state from 70 to 75 and, for the county, from 39 to 40.
Non-motorized fatalities increased from three in 2015 to nine in 2021 and decreased to two in 2024.
Unbelted fatalities increased from 831 in 2015 to 1,715 in 2021, and incidents dropped to 1,491 in 2024.
Safety Performance Measures are required by federal laws and are based on five-year averages. Each state and MPO can adopt the state methodology or create its own.
In other meeting business, NCDOT Engineer Mark Eatman reviewed carbon reduction program (CRP) funds. Eatman said he was not confident the funding program would continue past 2026 and that a project would need to be implemented by May 2026, with a minimum cost of $120,000.
SMPO officials speculated that their funds could be redacted, although there had been no evidence of such a measure, and wanted to expedite a date of May 2025 as a deadline for implementation of a CRP-funded project.
Town leaders will share eligible project ideas, focusing on green space, with the Technical Coordinating Committee at the March meeting.
With Moore County’s population growing faster than the state, the awarded CRP funds seem insufficient. The state receives about $34 million, and SMPO will receive about $325,581 to use at its discretion.
Funds can be used on a variety of projects, including roundabouts, traffic lights, sidewalks, adding turn lanes, congestion improvements (not widening), transit improvements, education, and procuring electric vehicles and chargers.
Applicants must keep requests below $500,000 to avoid lengthy processing times, and highway-focused improvements are eligible for state matching programs. CRP funds can be mixed with other funds.
Eatman said MPOs within the $500,000 to $100,000 range usually choose one or two projects for the funds.
SMPO suggested a study on carbon creation from long wait times in vehicles, such as school waiting lines and fast-food lines.
SMPO Director Scott Walston invited the public to comment during the public comment period for the draft State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) in 2026-2035, now through April 4.
STIP is updated every two years and considers public input in its 10-year plan.
NCDOT will be available for questions Feb. 24-28, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., at NCDOT Division 8 Office, 121 DOT Drive, Carthage.
Contact Bryan Kluchar at 910-773-8021 or [email protected] to submit comments online.
Walston led the motion to send out the draft FY26 Unified Planning Work Program for a 14-day public review, which will be approved on March 28 to meet NCDOT and Federal Transit Administration deadlines.
During reports, NCDOT said the billion-dollar rail project for a railway from Raleigh to Richmond, Virginia, had been placed on hold.
The Southern Pines Town Engineer reviewed the town’s 2010 multimodal pedestrian plan, connecting two existing trails off Knoll Road. NCDOT approved an agreement with $3.79 million total cost and NCDOT paying 80% under the TAP program.
The NCDOT Local Programs Management Office was seeking a letter of support from SMPO since Southern Pines is now part of the SMPO. In the 2017 corridor study, the plan was presented and had implications for Pinehurst and, later, Midland Road.
The expected completion date is within 2026.
SMPO approved a resolution of support for the Knoll Road improvements and will discuss how to handle future resolutions of support for projects at its next meeting on March 19.
Feature photo: Statistics on Moore County crashes via SMPO.
~Written by Sandhills Sentinel journalist Stephanie M. Sellers. Stephanie is also an English instructor at Central Carolina Community College. She is the author of young adult fiction, including When the Yellow Slugs Sing and Sky’s River Stone, and a suspense, GUTTERSNIPE: Shakespearean English Stage Play with Translation, and a new upcoming release published by Golden Storyline Books, a science fiction, Amagi.
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