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The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) is seeking public input on how transportation projects should be selected to receive funding from the state’s new mobility fund, which will provide dollars for projects deemed to have statewide or regional significance.

Signed into law by North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue, the mobility fund will provide $173 million from fiscal-year 2011 to fiscal-year 2014. The monies will come from unused gap funds and reductions in dollars transferred from the highway trust fund to the general fund.

NCDOT is asking the public whether the department should consider travel time savings, volume-to-capacity ratios, economic development, connections to intermodal terminals, major employment centers, freight volumes or other criteria when selecting transportation projects.

“With strong public input, we can create a fair selection process that takes into account the factors that are important to those who use our transportation network every day,” said North Carolina Transportation Secretary Gene Conti in a prepared statement.

NCDOT will accept public comments until Sept. 9. The department then will craft a preliminary report describing a formal project selection process, which the public will be able to comment on from Oct. 1 to Oct. 29. NCDOT plans to issue a final report and present it to the North Carolina Board of Transportation on Dec. 2 and the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee on Dec. 15.