Given a set of n vertices in the plane together with a set of noncrossing, straight-line edges, the constrained Delaunay triangulation (CDT) is the triangulation of the vertices with the following properties: (1) the prespecified edges are included in the triangulation, and (2) it is as close as possible to the Delaunay triangulation. We show that the CDT can be built in optimal O(n log n) time using a divide-and-conquer technique. This matches the time required to build an arbitrary (unconstrained) Delaunay triangulation and the time required to build an arbitrary constrained (non-Delaunay) triangulation. CDTs, because of their relationship with Delaunay triangulations, have a number of properties that make them useful for the finite-element method. Applications also include motion planning in the presence of polygonal obstacles and constrained Euclidean minimum spanning trees, spanning trees subject to the restriction that some edges are prespecified.