I haven’t heard any update, but I can ask for one.
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Thanks Jonathan. We should all be a little embarrassed at the attention given to the RHA decision when it was going to be unanimous all along. How do we get the same urgency/attention on the BRT project?
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Well I wouldn’t say unanimous given that the two most likely no votes conveniently found reasons to ghost the meeting.
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Absolutely 100% on this; the vote was NOT unanimous, and Mary Black/Christina Jones ABSOLUTELY SHOULD be counted as “NO” votes when considering at the ballot box this November.
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To be fair, that’s kinda comparing apples to oranges. The delay for BRT is not city council (they approved it long long ago), but just the fact that when the city put it thru the normal Bid Process, and no contractors submitted. Typically, this means staff have to rewrite the call for bids in a way to actually get contractors interested. And I bet dollars to donuts that’s not something easy to do in just a couple months. Those things are hella complicated—particularly when the project’s budget has already been established and set.
Contractors in this state are well known to eye the big bucks above all else—they’ll go in a big catfight with each other tooth and nail for a big NCDOT major highway project, but for smaller local stuff, you hear crickets.
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It ended up being unanimous by those in attendance, but it was not a foregone conclusion by any means. The effort to raise awareness and bring facts to the table got us the vote we needed. I would not make the assumption without that awareness that it would have been approved. Should have been, of course, but that would have been a naive thing to assume going into the vote.
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Haha ok maybe I just said that for the reaction. In my opinion though, it was never in doubt, and I stand by that. Maybe it wouldn’t have been unanimous without all of the emails and outrage and stuff, fair.
I’m saying can we get some of the same outrage re: BRT delays? It’s impacting DT’s growth/New Bern corridor’s growth, trickling down to impact prop values and businesses, in theory. But it’s crickets because it’s East Raleigh and the group that would have sway if outraged (Oakwood) is fine with the delay, unlike Boylan re: RHA closing south St.
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Here’s what I got directly from our Assistant City Manager (and former Transportation Director) whose management includes the Transportation Department:
“We reworked the project into two separate bid packages, a civil/roadway/utilities bid package and a vertical construction (the station stops). The civil package bids are due the end of this month. The vertical package will go to bid 10/18; the staggered dates align with construction timelines and allows the opportunity to make adjustments if needed. There are some private utilities that are moving their facilities that conflict with our project.”
Hope this helps! Also, as an aside, I’ve seen no indication or concerned from anyone on staff that the project is not going to move forward at an appropriate timeline. They quickly adjusted to the lack of bids on the first package. This is the first BRT built in North Carolina, so they are figuring out how to get it through. I expect subsequent routes will go much faster.
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Edit: @JonathanMelton scooped me!!!
This tracks with what we has been communicated publicly about it. What @StreetviewRDU heard at the South St informational event held on 7/20:
I was told basically the same thing at an informational / public feedback type event at the former DMV site on 8/24. They said that there were some potentially interested companies, but they were not confident enough in their ability to meet the requirements of the RFP (timelines, budget, etc.) to make bids, due to lack of experience with similar projects. Once they break the project out into “horizontal” (road, MUP, sidewalk, etc) and “vertical” (the stations), they expect to be able to get the horizontal work started pretty quickly and the vertical can follow along as the horizontal is completed. They were hopeful that once there is some local experience with BRT, the bid process for the remaining lines would be easier.
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Thank you, this helps! 
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From what I heard 2 year time-line to required completion which would never happen unless closed the road. So no bids!! Water/sewer/stormwater a year.
Just a reminder that New Bern Ave BRT construction has not started and there’s no updates on when it will start and it’s nearly the end of 2024.
Planning for this route started in 2019 and according to the city of Raleigh this route won’t be finished until 2028 (likely delayed even longer).
That’s basically 10 years to build a 5 mile bus route.
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Good thing this is a faster process than doing light rail
At least my car still works…
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Backdoor Nimbyism. Raleigh is becoming the most undeserved sizable city in America. At least we can claim that accolade…
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I share your frustration but I think you meant “underserved”
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@JonathanMelton mentioned this last month.
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This almost always happens with major projects like this (the exception being highways). What doesn’t help is the fact that Raleigh wants NC based firms to complete the very first BRT project in the state.
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Who’s fault is this and can we vote them out in November? Or did they already get voted out and nobody has the daring to switch course? Build the darn thing, don’t care how or at what cost, just get it done.
That they blew money on fancy buses that are being unused is a shame. Why buy the carts before even thinking of getting a horse?
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Raleigh city government is like the ingrown hairs in an armpit they simply can’t pull anything out right. @nicholas was right Raleigh never had big city dreams.
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It appeass that Raleigh’s biggest problem is Raleigh itself and that if only there was a way to save Raleigh from itself and let people from other cities run things.
I’d be fine getting people from elsewhere to run things. Perhaps Richmond or Norfolk. At least they try and don’t kneecap themselves at every turn.
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