The Western Triangle is moving forward on transit
- November 5, 2020
- Posted by: Joe Milazzo II
- Category: Blog
Durham and Orange counties are reimagining their countywide transit plans and taking a fresh look at community goals and priorities for transit.
Last month, Orange County held a Transit Summit, where it focused on ways to approach transit planning and investments as part of its review of its transit plan. Those familiar with the 2016 Wake Transit planning process may recognize several of the themes being discussed, including “frequency = freedom” and the “ridership vs. coverage tradeoff” presented by the Jarrett Walker + Associates consultant team.
Durham County is also focused on revisiting its transit plan and its multimodal future through the Engage Durham initiative.
RTA applauds our partners across our region for encouraging a great discussion on the opportunity that enhanced transit presents to our community — as part of the Orange and Durham transit plan update processes, and the Wake Transit reprioritization process.
As a regional business leadership group, RTA has consistently elevated the question of tradeoffs and opportunity costs as one of the fundamental factors in the decision making process about transportation investments — or any community investment, for that matter.
RTA supports the acceleration of effective transit improvements to provide relief and recovery amidst an extended pandemic and economic downturn. Given the volatile, uncertain environment, we are continuing to push for an “urgent and flexible” approach — i.e., rapid, but not irrevocable, steps forward.
From a western Triangle standpoint, the regional business community is advocating for:
- Formalizing equity as a measure of success
- Incorporating “FAST” framework principles to create multimodal corridors like US 15-501 , NC 54, I-40, NC 147 (future I-885), and US 70
- Accelerating Chapel Hill’s North-South BRT and possible extensions with a “FAST” network approach
We look forward to further engagement and continuing to support our partners in creating our regional transit future!
Let’s get moving,
Joe
Joe Milazzo II, PE
RTA Executive Director
RTA is the voice of the regional business community on transportation
