Rep. Ross presents check to GoTriangle for FY2023 bus stop improvements
Morrisville, NC (Sept. 8, 2023) U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross awarded GoTriangle a $900,000 check this morning to improve bus stop safety and accessibility in Wake County. Several Triangle area elected officials showed their support by attending the event at GoTriangle’s Bus Operations and Maintenance Facility.
The funding will be used to improve bus stop locations where the design speed, traffic volumes, constrained right-of-way and number of transit passengers require safety and Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility improvements. Improvements will include bus bays, sidewalk connections, ADA curb ramps, crosswalks and pedestrian signals. Proposed locations are distributed throughout the county, benefiting customers on several regional GoTriangle routes.
“Our disabled citizens rely on public transportation to get where they need to go, many of them cannot drive themselves, and we have got to make it easier to have these critical resources,” said Ross, who represents North Carolina’s 2nd District.
She said funding could not have come at a more critical time because in recent years, the area’s aging infrastructure has failed to match the booming growth of local communities.
“At a time when more and more families and businesses are choosing to call the Triangle home, we need to better our transportation options to help residents get to the places where they live, work, learn and play,” Ross said. “We have a duty to invest in smart, sustainable and most importantly, accessible and safe transportation to connect our people with job opportunities, healthcare services, housing, education and more. That’s why I fought for this $900,000 investment.”
President and CEO Charles Lattuca said he was grateful to Ross as well as Rep. David Price, who represented North Carolina’s 4th District before retiring at the end of 2022. Price acquired $8 million in bus replacement funding for GoTriangle, Chapel Hill Transit, GoDurham and GoRaleigh to expand the regional electric, zero-emission bus fleet.
“We do not do anything here in the Triangle without help from our federal partners,” Lattuca said. “It is so important to have our federal partners working for us.”
Ross and Price secured the funding to improve bus stop safety and accessibility in Wake County through the omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2023, which President Joe Biden signed into law on December 29.
