Just last week I noted head-scratching by taxpayers in Durham and Orange counties over the $159 million bill for the light rail project that will not happen.
You’d think that would give politicians in Wake County pause to reconsider any future light rail projects. Bad on you. N&O reports GoTriangle is pressing ahead with plans for commuter trains between Garner, Raleigh, Cary, Research Triangle Park and Durham.
Two new types of mass transit will take shape in Raleigh over the coming decade under the Wake Transit Plan, the 10-year blueprint that voters endorsed in 2016 when they approved a half-cent sales tax for transit.
The first is four bus rapid transit or BRT lines that will radiate from downtown, creating bus-only lanes and stations with raised, covered platforms where riders can buy tickets before boarding. The city, through GoRaleigh, hopes to open the first of those lines in late 2023 along New Bern Avenue.
Later in the decade, GoTriangle plans to begin running commuter trains between Garner, Raleigh, Cary, Research Triangle Park and Durham. The trains will stop at Raleigh Union Station downtown, but exact location of other stations south and west of downtown have not been set.
But that’s progressive groupthink for you. Everywhere signs are right in front of them that a certain policy-nationalized healthcare is another good example—would be a total disaster, yet what do they do? Double down.
