Announcements & Events

2023 marks Year of the Trail in NC, a campaign to celebrate trails, greenways, and blueways across the state. In 2021, NC legislators designated 2023 as Year of the Trail to commemorate the 1973 NC Trails System Act. Read more about the statewide initiative, and our local participation including events throughout the year.

Pender County, in collaboration with The Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization (WMPO), is conducting a Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan for portions of Pender County that lie within the WMPO urban boundary. The public engagement period for the plan is now open and will remain open through the end of January. The process will include an online survey, pop-up events, and a steering committee. The online survey can be accessed here.

The City of Wilmington is seeking a qualified firm to perform an Organizational Assessment for the Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (WMPO). The WMPO desires to better understand how it is performing based on the needs of our members and an evaluation of the roles, responsibilities, staffing, program delivery, and structure of the organization. The recommendations from this assessment will be used to deliver services more efficiently and effectively to our members. The submittal deadline is December 12, 2022. The RFLOI can be viewed here.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) continues to mandate the certification of the transportation planning process in Transportation Management Areas (TMAs) at least once every four years by the U.S. Department of Transportation in order to determine if the transportation planning process being conducted in the area meets the Federal requirements as listed in 23 CFR 450 Part C.

The Federal certification review team will conduct an on-site visit in Wilmington, NC on Thursday, December 8, 2022. The review team will be available after 1 pm on December 8th and will hold a short debriefing in the Technology Conference Room located on the 4th floor of 305 Chestnut Street in downtown Wilmington to summarize the findings.

An important part of the certification review is providing the public with an opportunity to comment. The public comment period will be open from November 16, 2022, until 5 pm on December 7, 2022. All comments can be e-mailed to mike.kozlosky@wilmingtonnc.gov or via U.S mail to:

Mike Kozlosky, Executive Director
Wilmington Urban Area MPO
PO Box 1810
Wilmington, North Carolina 28402-1810

For more information, please contact Mike Kozlosky, Executive Director at 910-342-2781 or mike.kozlosky@wilmingtonnc.gov

The WMPO is the recipient of allocated funds for the Surface Transportation Block Grant Program (STBGP) Direct Attributable, Transportation Alternatives Set Aside, and Carbon Reduction Program totaling $5,087,594 for FY23.

The WMPO issued a call for projects on July 8, 2022, which closed on September 15, 2022. A total of six project applications were received and ranked according to the established revised application guidelines. All six projects, listed below, were awarded the requested funding.

New Hanover County – Monkey Junction Pedestrian Improvements Project – Multi-use Path

Town of Leland – US 17 Pedestrian Crossing Safety Improvements

City of Wilmington – South 3rd Street and Ann Street Traffic Signal Installation

Cape Fear Public Transportation Authority (WAVE) – Passenger Amenity Upgrades (installation of transit shelters and benches)

Town of Wrightsville Beach – Causeway Drive Bicycle and Pedestrian Improvements

NCDOT Division 3 Traffic Services – South 3rd Street and Orange Street Traffic Signal Installation

NCDOT’s Request for Information (RFI) for the Alternative Delivery for the replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge closed on May 26, 2022. This is one part of the 3-pronged approach to explore the possible funding options to replace the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge (Traditional Delivery and Conventional Toll Delivery methods are also being evaluated). Once all the information pertaining to the three options is gathered, NCDOT will present its findings to the WMPO Board.