Chapel Hill BRT Moves Forward
- March 16, 2024
- Posted by: Jacob Rigg
- Category: Blog
This past week was a great week for enhanced transit in the metropolitan Triangle.
Chapel Hill Transit has been spearheading the 8+ mile long North-South BRT project for several years. This week the Federal Transit Administration announced that more than $138 million in federal funding would be recommended for the project in the Administration’s budget proposal to Congress for FY 2025.
The project will have more than 5.5 miles of dedicated transit priority lanes — representing about 70% of the corridor.The corridor will connect several destinations including UNC Chapel Hill, the hospitals in the UNC Medical Center complex, as well as Downtown Chapel Hill.
The proposed federal investment represents the largest recommended grant for a single BRT project in our region.
Chapel Hill’s transit director, Brian Litchfield, called the project’s inclusion an “important step.” “That means that not only have you been rated [for funding], but you’re eligible to be considered for funding,” he said. “The president’s budget is the first step … the next step is an appropriation from Congress.”
RTA is pleased to see the project included in the Administration’s Congressional budget request. RTA has long supported the north-south BRT project, and the project’s inclusion continues the momentum for building our metropolitan rapid transit network.
As I said to the Triangle Business Journal, “The regional business community will continue to advocate for this project until it is under construction.”
With the New Bern Avenue BRT construction starting soon in Raleigh, the Southern BRT in Raleigh perhaps a couple of years away, and Chapel Hill’s BRT poised to receive funding, enhanced regional transit continues to move forward nicely.
Let’s get moving,
Joe Milazzo II, PE
RTA executive director
RTA is the voice of the regional business community on transportation
