JACKSON - The Northampton County Board of Commissioners are one step closer in seeing construction begin on the North Carolina Center for Automotive Research (NCCAR).

On Monday, the commissioners approved an industrial access road construction agreement as negotiated with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT).

Northampton County Economic Development Commission Director Gary Brown said engineers provided a construction budget estimate of more than $1.3 million for the industrial access road.

“NCDOT is providing funding totaling $1.2 million for industrial access road construction with the balance of funds for the project to be drawn from NCCAR funding appropriated by the North Carolina General Assembly or other grant resources,” he said.

Brown added the total cost of the access road project will ultimately be determined at the time construction bids are received.
NCDOT project funding is on a monthly reimbursable basis, meaning the county will receive monthly progress payment recommendations from the project engineers, process payment and be reimbursed monthly by NCDOT.

When completed, NCCAR, previously known as the Advanced Vehicle Research Center of North Carolina (AVRNC), will feature a world class ride and handling course, multiple vehicle dynamics areas, client garages and office/engineering suites.

NCCAR is an independent, non-profit center devised to meet the ever-evolving product research, testing and development demands of the automotive industry.  State sponsorship and affiliation with North Carolina’s university and community college system offers exceptional opportunities for matching the innovative talents of the world’s automotive industry with the research capacity and business development resources of the State of North Carolina.

The facility has been modeled after similar successful initiatives in Ohio and the United Kingdom. Funding has been received from the State of North Carolina, Northampton County, the North Carolina Rural Center, the Golden Leaf Foundation and several private organizations and companies. It will be the only independent research center of its kind on the East Coast. 

About NCCAR: The North Carolina Center for Automotive Research (NCCAR) is a modern automotive testing facility for use in the design, development, testing and certification of advanced vehicle technologies, sub-systems and components. NCCAR is a State funded initiative that is designed to combine the resources and skills of North Carolina's industries, academic institutions and strategies to put North Carolina at the front of advanced vehicle technologies and hence jobs The Research Center is a public-private partnership that matches the talents of multi-national automotive companies with those of North Carolina's leading universities. NCCAR is world class and focused on next generation research and development in the automotive industry. For more information, www.nccar.us