The Charlotte Department of Transportation (CDOT) serves as the project manager for many of the city’s infrastructure projects. Our staff works closely with other city departments such as Planning, Design & Development and Housing & Neighborhood Services to select and rank their project lists. These lists are submitted to other city departments, the Office of Strategy & Budget and the City Manager’s Office for approval. Once City Council approves the priority projects, initial funding needs are estimated and included in a bond referendum. When voters approve the bonds, CDOT selects a design consultant and begins a multi-phase process for designing and building a project. Learn more about project phases.
The City of Charlotte's original Urban Street Design Guidelines (USDG) have evolved and are now integrated into the Charlotte Streets Manual(PDF, 3MB) and the Charlotte Land Development Standards Manual (CLDSM). These frameworks implement the multimodal policies of the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) to balance transit, bikes, pedestrians and vehicles.
The city designs streets using rules from the Charlotte Streets Manual and Strategic Mobility Plan, with a focus on "Complete Streets" that ensure safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users and drivers. Projects emphasize neighborhood context, integrating diverse transit options and adhering to the same standards as private development.
City staff from CDOT; Housing & Neighborhood Services; Planning, Design & Development and the Office of Strategy & Budget collaborate to identify neighborhoods that will benefit from infrastructure improvements. After this list is compiled, Housing & Neighborhood Services ranks these projects in the order they should be completed and submits the list to the Office of Strategy & Budget and the City Manager's Office for approval.
Once City Council approves the priority projects, initial funding needs are estimated and included in a bond referendum. When voters approve the bonds, CDOT selects a design consultant and begins the five-phase process for designing and building the project.