North Carolina Department of Transportation

History

The North Carolina Department of Transportation was formed in 1915 as the State Highway Commission. In 1931, the commission was restructured to include a chair and six other members appointed by the governor. It also assumed responsibility for the maintenance of all county roads in the state and all inmates of county jails sentenced to over 60 days incarceration. In 1933, the agency was merged with the state prison system to form the State Highway and Public Works Commission.

In 1941 the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) was formed under the NCDoT by an act of the General Assembly. The Executive Organization Act of 1971 combined the state highway commission and the DMV to form the NC Department of Transportation and Highway Safety. In 1979 "Highway Safety" was dropped when the North Carolina State Highway Patrol (NCSHP) was transferred to the North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.{{cite web |url=http://www.ncdot.org/about/ncdot/history.html |title=NCDOT: History and Organization |access-date= 2006-11-15 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061104132207/http://www.ncdot.org/about/ncdot/history.html |archive-date = 2006-11-04}}

Board of Transportation

The board governs the department and is the decision-making body. Fourteen board members are appointed by the governor, one each from one of the fourteen divisions, and six others appointed by the NC House Speaker and NC Senate Pro-Tempore, representing specific functions of the department that meet once a month.

Divisions of the NCDOT

Division of Motor Vehicles

The Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) provides motor services like issuing licenses and permits, promote highway safety, giving accurate information about road conditions, enforcing motor vehicle laws, and keeping hold of official DMV records.

Division of Highways

The Division of Highways is responsible for building and maintaining the second largest state maintained highway system in the nation, incorporating over 78615 mi of highways, and 18,540 bridges collectively spanning 376.98 mi.

Division of Aviation

The Division of Aviation's mission is to maintain the North Carolina air transportation system development and improve aviation safety and education. The current director is Nicholas Short, PE.

Integrated Mobility Division

The Integrated Mobility Division administers state and federal funds for public transportation, bicycle, and pedestrian programs and provides subject matter expertise related to multimodal transportation funding, planning, innovation, data, technology, and emerging mobility trends. The current director is Brennon Fuqua.

The division's mission is to provide leadership for safe, affordable, and innovative multimodal transportation throughout North Carolina.

Ferry Division

The Ferry Division is responsible for providing ferry services to public. The Ferry Division operates eight routes connecting mainland North Carolina with various outer banks and islands along the coast of North Carolina. The current director is Jed Dixon.

Rail Division

The Rail Division is responsible for operation of six Amtrak trains within North Carolina under the NC By Train brand and works with the North Carolina Railroad Company, a state owned railroad that carries both freight and passenger rail service. The route is 317 mi long and runs from Charlotte, North Carolina to one of the state ports at Morehead City, NC. The route passes through the cities of Charlotte, Salisbury, Lexington, Greensboro, Burlington, Durham, Raleigh, Goldsboro and on to Morehead City. The North Carolina Railroad trackage is currently leased to Norfolk Southern Railway. A small portion between Raleigh and Cary is co-operated with Norfolk Southern by CSX Transportation. The state operates no freight trains and all freight is handled by either CSX or Norfolk Southern. However, the division does own the rolling stock used on the Piedmont under the reporting mark RNCX. The current director is Jason Orthner, PE.

References

Works cited

References

1. (October 7, 2025). "NCDOT".
2. "NCDOT: Board of Transportation".
3. "NCDOT: Division of Highways".
4. "NC Division of Motor Vehicles".
5. "NCDOT Quick Facts".
6. "NC Division of Aviation Mission & Vision".
7. "NCDOT: Integrated Mobility Division - About".
8. "NC Ferry Division".