North Carolina prides itself on being the site of a revolution in transportation – first in flight.
But when it comes to a needed evolution in transportation – the expansion of mass transit in an automobile-centric state – North Carolina hasn’t quite taken off. U.S. News & World Report ranks North Carolina 28th nationally in public transit use despite being the nation’s ninth-largest state by population.
Christof Spieler, a transit expert and author of “Trains, Buses and People,” said North Carolina does well with the transit resources it has, but it needs more.
“Part of North Carolina’s problem is that it’s an urban state that still thinks of itself as a rural state,” Spieler told the Editorial Board. “North Carolina has to realize it has two powerhouse metro areas and that is the core of its economy. You have to start thinking like an urban place.”
A focus on urban transportation needs has been stymied in the General Assembly where the Republican majority has a rural political base. That neglect could start to change in 2022 as the new $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure law will provide a surge in funding for North Carolina’s bus and rail transportation.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg came to Charlotte this month to stress the benefits for North Carolina. Much of the state’s $7.2 billion share of the federal funding will go toward highways and bridges, but $911 million is targeted for public transit.
Buttigieg said in a WCNC-TV interview during his visit that cities that have undertaken efforts such as Charlotte’s light-rail system may now get more funding. “You’ve had communities like Charlotte that have been innovating, thinking about the future, putting their money where their mouth is, but they haven’t had the support they deserve from Washington,” he said. “We’re finally doing it.”
One potential state impact of more federal funding will be added support for a new high-speed passenger rail line from Raleigh to Richmond, Va. The new line could cut more than an hour off the trip and give travelers from central North Carolina better rail access to Washington and the Northeast.
“Our state is one of the best-positioned states to receive that funding,” said Jason Orthner, director of NCDOT’s Rail Division.
The most striking local effect of increased federal funding will be in the Triangle region, where long-incubating plans for bus rapid transit lines in Wake County and a regional rail system are expected to move forward quickly in 2022.
Sig Hutchinson, who chairs both the Wake County Board of Commissioners and the regional transportation agency, GoTriangle, is a longtime advocate for public transit and transit options, such as greenways and bike lanes. He said 2022 “is going to be a transformational year. I am as excited about it as I have been in 20 years of work in transit.”
Plans call for running new commuter rail lines along existing freight lines to create 37 miles of commuter rail that will knit the region together by 2030. Key steps will take place in 2022 as a feasibility study will be completed, commissioners in Durham and Wake County will vote on providing local funding and a request for federal funding will be submitted.
It helps that for one more year Rep. David Price, a longtime Democratic member of Congress from the Triangle, serves as chairman of the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee. Price strongly supports bringing commuter rail lines to the Triangle.
Better commuter rail transposition is long overdue in the Triangle. “We’re the largest region of our size without a fixed-guideway transportation system,” Hutchinson said.
Spieler cautions that there’s more to having a quality transit system than simply building rail lines and adding buses. “It’s not measured by miles and dollars,” he said. “It’s measured by whether it’s actually useful.”
The realization of high-speed trains and convenient commuter rail lines is years away, but 2022 should see better transit options rising on the horizon.