ITRE Study

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• ITRE Final Report Feb 2006
• March 7-9 Community Meetings Summary
• Fact Sheet

The Outer Banks Transportation Task Force (OBTTF) requested assistance from the Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) at North Carolina State University to facilitate a public input and planning process. The purpose was to develop and define appropriate transportation solutions, which can alleviate highway congestion and also address other related local transportation problems.

Highway congestion becomes severe in the coastal resort counties of Dare and Currituck, particularly during peak summer vacation months, and it affects residents, tourists, and seasonal employees. The OBTTF's goal is to develop recommendations for integrated transportation improvement solutions in order to improve the mobility of workers, visitors and residents and also alleviate highway congestion. ITRE provided guidance on how to best develop these solutions, assisted with developing the process to reach regional consensus, and, ultimately, provided it's recommendations in a final report - located elsewhere on this website.

Dare and Currituck counties, especially, the Outer Banks portion, were the primary study area. The population of the Outer Banks grows by nearly tenfold on some peak weekends during the summer vacation season when it can reach 300,000.

The OBTTF is seeking short- and long-term solutions to the highway congestion and other transportation problems through the reduction of vehicles on the road and alternative methods of moving the visiting and service industry population once they are on the Outer Banks. During early discussions, members noted that such solutions could include (but are not limited to):

• Public transportation services such as trolley buses
• Improved traffic engineering
• Alternative methods for scheduling tourist visits, such as spreading out check-in days
• An education campaign aimed at reducing the number of tourist vehicles
• Changes to current land use/development regulations

The ITRE study involved the following activities:

• Conducting five community meetings to build consensus among the public and elected officials for adoptability of the ultimate solutions (held March 7-9, 2005).
• Compiling an inventory of currently available transportation resources.
• Conducting case studies of similar tourist/resort destinations to see if similar problems have been met with solutions that can be applied to the Outer Banks.
• Conducting preliminary analysis of the costs and benefits of potential alternative solutions that could be selected for implementation.
• Facilitating, with the OBTTF, a final community symposium featuring recommendations for further action (held October 2005).
• Providing a Final Report that documents the study results and recommendations (available on this website).

Project Period

The study project lasted through February 2006. The funding was provided by a grant from the NC Department of Transportation, Public Transportation Division, with a local share provided by both participating counties and all six municipalities in Dare County . The project was also a Gateway Project of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service - intended to demonstrate how this Service can provide access to research capabilities of NC State University.