The North Carolina Airport Technical Assistance Program (AirTAP) was established in 2016 and helps public- and private-sector airport professionals across the state to improve the safety, quality, and efficiency of airport operations and increase the use of new aviation materials, practices, and technology. To meet these goals, AirTAP provides: ��������������� training programs; ��������������� technical assistance; ��������������� access to experts; ��������������� technical materials; and ��������������� networking opportunities. Through its programs, AirTAP also helps airport staff build a community network for exchanging best practices and for learning from one another. Based on feedback the program receives, AirTAP continuously adapts to best meet the needs of the aviation community������������������from the topics it addresses to how it delivers that information.

KSU will subcontract the North Carolina State University (NCSU) Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) to develop, host and maintain a series of outward facing Performance Management Dashboards. These will incorporate dashboards for different levels of KDOT stakeholders to include the Division of Aviation Team, Intra-Agency Staff, Elected Officials, and the public at large.

Research Tasks and Methodology An initial project kick-off meeting with appropriate NCDOT���s Division of Aviation (DoA) staff will ensure that the project team can efficiently and effectively complete the project. The following tasks outline the steps the project team will complete. Task 1 - Economic Contribution Study The primary objective of this task is to examine and determine the economic contribution of commercial and general aviation airports in North Carolina, both on the statewide and the local/county levels. The goal is to produce an easily understood, concise and effective summary which highlights this economic contribution for use by the Division of Aviation and all local airport managers and economic development groups. The Division of Aviation would use this tool to show the existing contribution of aviation activities to various audiences such as the NC General Assembly, the North Carolina Department of Transportation���s Board of Transportation, industries located in North Carolina, as well as industries that could potentially locate in North Carolina. The Division would also distribute the report to the local airport managers for use in discussing infrastructure needs with their local government officials and in attracting business customers. The project team will collect information from airport managers (through an email-distributed survey file) and tenants/major users (primarily through an online survey with the distribution assistance of local airport staff). The project team expects initial data collection to coincide with the NCAA annual meeting in 2024 (and the final deliverables to be available in early November 2024). To supplement the economic contribution outputs, the research team will collect data about taxes collected by aviation-related activities at three levels: 1) fuel taxes, 2) on-airport businesses, and 3) throughout all businesses supported by aviation. This task involves assisting with the development and arrangement of the executive summary/brochure to be distributed by the DoA. The project team will work with DoA/DoA���s representative during this stage to review the content of the summary, including what data or findings from the study should be emphasized as well as the overall format (the brochure itself and one-page fact sheets will be developed by NCDOT). The primary subtasks for this effort include: ��� Data collection from airports and tenants/users ��� Economic model development in IMPLAN ��� Summarize economic impacts by airport ��� Summarize aviation industry information for inclusion in brochure/executive summary ��� Review NCDOT-developed products that highlight information from this task Task 2 ��� Airport Counting Tools Evaluation and Validation In this task, the research team will assist DoA with a review of airport counting tools and to validate specific installations of equipment and results at NC airports participating in the reimbursement program. The validation will take place at least once every two years by observing (in-person or via video) a minimum of 50 aircraft operations (or a full-day of data collection for airports with fewer flight operations) and comparing them to operations reported by the service. Task 3 ���Technical Assistance In this task, the research team will provide technical assistance to the Division of Aviation on topics mutually agreed upon by the Division and the research team. These efforts may include, but are not limited to: ��� Analysis of economic development opportunities; ��� Creation of airport animations based on filed flight plan data from the Federal Aviation Administration; ��� Development of maps/data/information to support various initiatives; and ��� Access to UAS pilots and platforms

The project seeks to enhance knowledge about available data that the NCDOT Office of Civil Rights (OCR) can potentially use to inform decisions and policies. The project team will conduct a review of the state of the practice related to metrics and indicators (also referred to as Key Performance Indicators, KPIs) that are related to civil rights in the context of transportation agencies and further explore and evaluate the existing NCDOT data and reports relevant to this project. A final report will be developed to summarize the KPI state of the practice review, availability and reasonableness of NCDOT data, and implementation considerations. Specifically, implementation considerations are expected to address the following elements: ��� What are the most effective ways to help tell the story of OCR (internally and externally to various audiences including communities of color, elected officials, NCDOT leadership)? ��� What aspects of OCR���s story can be told with quantitative vs qualitative data? Can qualitative information be developed into quantitative measures? ��� What are the best ways to measure the impacts of NCDOT on communities of color? ��� What is the quantity and quality of existing data? ��� How can existing data be used to answer pressing questions and inform policy decisions? ��� What additional information can be used/collected? ��� What missing information will limit the effectiveness of future efforts related to metrics and indicators? ��� What are potential barriers access and understanding of OCR processes and information? Implementation considerations will be based in evidence, such as research focused on identifying community engagement strategies to understand the indicators and metrics of NCDOT���s impact on communities of color.

This research will provide insight into the safe and secure integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the disaster preparedness and emergency response and recovery areas. It will explore the use of UAS in providing effective and efficient responses to different natural and human-made disasters and emergencies. It will focus on procedures to coordinate with UAS operators from within federal agencies such as Department of Interior (DOI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (including Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)), as well as local and state disaster preparedness and emergency response organizations, to ensure proper coordination during those emergencies. The results will help inform requirements, technical standards, and regulations needed to enable disaster preparedness and emergency response and recovery operations for UAS. This research will also develop a database with data collected during the project to be analyzed to produce various key performance measures and metrics that characterize overall pilot proficiency in a flight environment. A11L.UAS.68 UAS Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Phase III will build from the results, findings, and lessons learned from A28/Phase I (FY20-FY22) and A52/Phase II (FY21-23). The requirement is intended to be a long-term research effort that may address the following 6 research areas and subsequent research questions, (ref. Sections 3.2-3.8 below), as well as any additional related questions that arise during the research process. Note that this set of questions resulted from findings and recommendations from the Federal Aviation Administration������������������s (FAA) preliminary literature review, formal peer review of Phase I and additional peer reviews, and other questions may continue to be uncovered by the Phase I and Phase II research efforts. The University of Alabama ������������������ Huntsville (UAH) will direct the overall A62 Team project, ensuring coordination of the participating universities, each with their assigned subtasks as indicated below. The participating universities and industry partners, along with UAH include the following: ��������������� New Mexico State University (NMSU); ��������������� University of Vermont (UVM); ��������������� North Carolina State University (NCSU); ��������������� Kansas State University (KSU) and; ��������������� Center for Naval Analysis (CNA) (Subaward to UVM). The participating universities on the A62 Team have completed extensive research and operational conduct across natural and human-made disasters and emergencies using UAS.

The ability to monitor satisfaction related to transportation services across North Carolina is key in assessing the efficacy of NCDOT programs and projects. To most effectively allocate resources, it is vital that transportation agencies incorporate stakeholder feedback into their management decisions. The annual customer satisfaction survey has allowed NCDOT to observe and address the perspective of North Carolinians and will continue to allow this analysis. This research will act as a supplement to previous surveys conducted and allow for comparison over time. The survey will help NCDOT to identify areas where customers are satisfied or dissatisfied and to identify trends across years, demographic groups, and geographic regions. The objectives of this research are to identify and analyze the perceptions of NCDOT customers, relate customer perceptions to NCDOT goals, and track perceptions of NCDOT customers from year to year. These objectives will be accomplished through five main research tasks: refine and update the survey instrument, deploy the survey instrument, survey analysis, prepare final deliverables, and provide tech support. Prior to the launch of the 2022-23 and 2023-24 surveys, the research team will update each respective survey instrument to streamline it, shorten the overall survey length, and ensure the information collected is useful to individual transportation mode groups at NCDOT. These adjustments will be made in a manner that enables NCDOT to examine response trends year-over-year for key survey questions. An oversampling effort, which has been used in previous surveys, will be maintained. The addition of an oversampling effort targeting historically under samples and hard-to-reach demographic groups to the survey allows the sample to reflect the population of North Carolina more accurately. This research will culminate in several research products that will be provided to NCDOT, including an Excel file with survey results and a document containing a summary of each question, a Tableau dashboard which will aid in interpreting responses and comparing data across questions and demographic groups, and a final report in the form of an executive summary and a research brief that will include key findings. Between the 2022-23 cycle and 2023-24 cycle, the research team will also perform a review of how the survey data is utilized within NCDOT, how the usefulness of the data could be expanded, and opportunities to connect the data to existing initiatives and other data internal to NCDOT. The research team will meet with representatives from each modal group at NCDOT to explore data applications and further streamline the survey to best serve each mode. The results of these survey efforts can be considered by NCDOT when developing new policies and initiatives. Additionally, the information collected will allow NCDOT to understand more about customer satisfaction and how it differs across demographic groups and various regions. This can streamline and improve the decision-making process, leading to better informed and evidence-based decisions on policy.

The NCDOT manages approximately 13,500 bridges across the state bridge inventory, including about 1,500 bridges considered structurally deficient which require an estimated cost of $3.8 billion to repair or rehabilitate. Currently, NCDOT relies on the Bridge Deterioration Model (BDM) to select bridge preservation projects, which is a system-wide estimation approach based on an overall bridge distribution profile. The BDM is neither suitable to determine the preservation priority according to individual bridge element conditions, nor does it consider social or economic impacts to enable a holistic approach to the asset management of existing bridges. NCDOT Structures Management Unit (SMU) and Division engineers need a tool to determine the triggering criteria for bridge preservation activities and to prioritize preservation projects based on individual bridge conditions to provide the lowest overall lifecycle cost, the best return on investment, and more value to local businesses and the public. The proposed research will develop a tool to assist NCDOT SMU and Division engineers to determine the triggering criteria for preservation activities and prioritize weight-restricted bridge project preservation. The research will include six tasks. After a comprehensive literature review on the methods and factors used for bridge preservation project prioritization by state and federal agencies (Task 1), the research team will interview SMU and division experts and establish a database including the trigger criteria and associated preservation activities (Task 2). This research will then use the Structure Element Scores from Structure Safety Reports and the cost database for preservation activities from SMU to develop candidate preservation activities, calculate the equivalent annual cost of preservation activities, and determine the optimum preservation plan (Task 3). A cost estimation model summarizing the total budget for each bridge will be established in Task 4. Task 5 will develop a two-stage cost-benefit tradeoff model to evaluate the cost and overall impact on local business based on GIS analysis of bridge criticality to freight routes. In this framework, preservation activities will be prioritized for bridges that have heavy freight use and inefficient detours. Finally, a report and user manual will be developed in Task 6. This research results will assist NCDOT in making informed decisions for bridge preservation actions based on individual bridge conditions, and effectively utilizing limited funding to address bridge preservation needs considering comprehensive factors.

This research will provide insight into the safe integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the disaster preparedness and emergency response areas. This research will explore the use of UAS in providing effective and efficient responses to different natural and human-made disasters and emergencies. The goal of this research is to develop a safe, effective, and standardized approach to inform policies, procedures, guidelines, best practices, and a coordination framework for UAS to aid in disaster preparedness and emergency response for different natural and human-made disasters and emergencies with collaboration at the local, state, and federal levels. It will focus on procedures to coordinate with UAS operators from within federal agencies such as Department of Interior (DOI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (including Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)), as well as local and state disaster preparedness and emergency response organizations, to ensure proper coordination during those emergencies. The results will help inform requirements, technical standards, and regulations needed to enable disaster preparedness and emergency response operations for UAS. The safe, effective and efficient use of UAS in a disaster and emergency are the primary goals of this project. This project will provide actionable information that will assist first responders to save lives faster and accelerate personnel and infrastructure recovery.

NCDOT requires a Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) for some developments based on the site trip generation estimates, site context, or at the discretion of the NCDOT District Engineer. An accurate TIA is essential to appropriately plan for a specific development and its expected impacts, along with any relevant mitigation factors. Many aspects of the TIA build on the trip generation estimates, which means the trip generation process of a TIA is a critical component and receives substantial attention and review from both NCDOT and the developer. As a result, vehicle trips may be impacted by developments in locations with multimodal options. Recent TIAs in these locations commonly include vehicle trip reductions. However, a thorough documentation and examination of reasonable vehicle trip reduction rates is not available in North Carolina. This research will assist NCDOT by developing a better understanding of the application of vehicle trip reduction rates for sites with probable multimodal usage in the context of Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA). Using data from North Carolina sites, the research will provide estimates of vehicle trip reduction rates for sites with probable multimodal usage (based on common location types with expected trip reduction requests in TIAs). The research will also provide recommendations for the application of vehicle trip reduction rates for NCDOT in the review of TIAs. This information will be useful for NCDOT in the review of TIAs, but can also be useful for developers and municipalities who may be intentionally focused on designs and developments that encourage multimodal transportation uses and options.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Ferry Division has faced a number of environmental challenges in recent years, including Hurricane Dorian (2019) which caused extensive service disruptions as well as the need to use the ferry system to remove 9,000 truckloads of storm debris (totaling over 6,650 tons) from Ocracoke Island (Virginian-Pilot, 2020). Shoaling caused by inlet processes has also caused delays and interruptions and necessitated frequent dredging along the Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island route. Additionally, changes in channel depth and orientation have resulted in the Ferry Division having to re-direct ferry routes and implement structural stabilization measures. Storms with extreme rainfall such as hurricanes Matthew (2016) and Florence (2018) can cause extensive flooding and problems for facilities on the sound side shorelines. Sea level is currently rising and rates of rise are predicted to increase for the foreseeable future [IPCC 2021 projects sea level rise to 2100], which will amplify storm surge and wave impacts. There is a need to evaluate the vulnerability of the system���s facilities across the state, both now and as climate change progresses. This will enable the Division to plan for adaptation projects to ensure that the system operates successfully into the future. As NCDOT plans for future transportation system resilience, there is a need for statewide assessment of current and future vulnerability of each of the transportation modes. The NCDOT Resilience Strategy Report (2021) describes NCDOT���s short-term strategies for resilience, including ���address gaps in resilience planning and standards for ferry.��� This is described as ���assess ferry channels and conduct vulnerability and criticality assessments to address future impacts���. The proposed research will directly address this specific short-term strategy. The aims and scope of the study will be (a) to assess the vulnerability of all of the Ferry Division���s infrastructure assets with respect to natural hazards (present and forecast to the 2040 and 2060 planning horizons); (b) to assess the condition of ferry channels at present as well as potential climate impacts (c) to prioritize assets for adaptation measures where needed; and (d) to provide recommendations on potential adaptation options as well as timeframes for implementation and ballpark cost estimates. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA's) Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Framework, 3rd Edition (FHWA-HEP-18-020), will serve to guide the proposed vulnerability assessment of ferry assets. This framework is designed to help transportation agencies and their partners to assess the vulnerability of transportation systems to extreme weather and climate effects. The five steps to conduct a vulnerability assessment include: 1) Set Objectives & Define Scope; 2) Compile Data; 3) Assess Vulnerability; 4) Analyze Adaptation Options and 5) Incorporate Results Into Decision-Making. These steps correspond to Tasks 3 through 7 in the proposed study. Tasks 1 and 8 are study project management tasks; the Kick-Off Meeting and Final Report and Deliverables, respectively. Task 2 is an expansion of the preliminary literature review that was conducted for the preparation of this proposal.