RTA Member Briefing: January 24
- January 24, 2025
- Posted by: Joe Milazzo II
- Category: Member briefing
RTA Members,
Today was annual meeting day, and it was great to see hundreds of our members and partners in Cary for the event. For this week’s briefing, we summarize the meeting, and highlight a potential new Interstate in the southwestern portion of the Triangle.
23 great years of regional leadership — and action
Today, Friday, January 24, RTA held our 23rd annual meeting, the State of Mobility 2025. The theme of the event was “Time is Money – The importance of finding, funding, and accelerating solutions.” Members of the regional business community joined fellow leaders in transportation and government as we elevated a host of critical issues, including advancing and supporting BRT, the opportunity to accelerate the upgrade of the US 1 freeway in northern Wake County, and the importance of infrastructure at RDU Airport.
We thanked RTA members including our entire RTA Regional Leadership Team, recognized the outstanding work of outgoing RTA chair Jay Irby with First Citizens Bank, welcomed Sarah Gaskill with FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies who began her term as RTA chair today, and applauded all of our RTA focus area chairs . RTA also highlighted the longstanding partnership between the NC Turnpike Authority and the regional business community at the event. More information, including a softcopy of today’s State of Mobility presentation deck can be found here: letsgetmoving.org/SofM.
Interstate 38 could be our region’s next major freeway corridor
In this week’s RTA weekly blog post, we highlighted the future I-685 corridor, also known as the Carolina Core freeway. This corridor will enhance workforce and supplier connectivity across the Research Triangle region, benefiting local communities and counties including Chatham and Lee, while easing congestion on Interstate 40.
In the post, I speak about a possible primary, two-digit Interstate designation, such as “Interstate 38,” for the corridor, and a connection from Sanford to Fayetteville, with a linkage to I-40 potentially via an upgraded NC highway 24. I welcome your feedback on this concept for providing added mobility for commerce while expanding our metro area’s Interstate system.
Let’s get moving,
Joe Milazzo II, PE
RTA executive director
