State Planning & Research (SPR) Program

The State Planning and Research (SPR) Program is a congressionally authorized and appropriated program that funds statewide transportation planning and research activities. The funds are used to establish a cooperative, continuous, and comprehensive ('3Cs') planning framework for making transportation investment decisions and to carry out transportation research activities throughout each State. These federal funds serve to assist states in meeting their planning objectives in correlation with Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) regulations and guidance. The SPR Program reflects the partnership between the federal government and state government for the statewide transportation planning process as the primary mechanism for cooperative transportation decision-making throughout the State. Federal transportation programs require coordination of statewide planning with metropolitan planning, statewide trade/ economic development planning activities, and related multi-state planning efforts. The provisions of 23 U.S.C. 135, 23 U.S.C. 150, and 49 U.S.C. 5304, as amended, require each State to carry out a continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive performance-based statewide multimodal transportation planning process, including the development of a long-range statewide transportation plan and State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).

The Planning Division within the NDOT is made up of several program areas that all play important roles in the Department's planning objectives and have the goal of meeting federally mandated planning, research, and data collection requirements. The SPR program tasks are implemented by appropriate planning program areas based on the responsibility of work and organization. While responsibility for each proposed planning initiative may fall within the responsibility of a specific program area, there is synergistic collaboration throughout the planning division ensuring that essential transportation planning goals are met.