RTA members,
Last month the region marked the 14th anniversary of the activation of North Carolina’s first Bus On Shoulder System (BOSS), on I-40 in Durham County.
If you are looking for a fast, good, and cost-effective regional mobility solution, North Carolina’s cooperative BOSS initiative should be at or near the top of your list.
BOSS provides several symbiotic benefits — it visibly helps buses maintain a faster and more reliable speed during rush hours, which helps them stay on schedule, which reduces transit operational costs, which improves the quality of experience for transit users while improving the attractiveness of transit as a mobility option for potential users.
The region’s first BOSS initiative began on I-40 in Durham County on July 16, 2012. GoTriangle (then Triangle Transit), NCDOT, and RTA cooperated through the I-40 Regional Partnership for many months on the preparation for that effort. Our efforts included a site visit to Minneapolis and St. Paul, the site of the nation’s first and largest metropolitan bus on shoulder operation.
Today, BOSS is active all parts of I-40 in Durham County and western Wake counties, along with the Wade Avenue freeway in west Raleigh, and we expect to see it extended to I-40 in Orange County once the current widening and modernization project is complete. BOSS is also authorized on most of I-540 between Morrisville and north Raleigh in western and northern Wake Counties (and a small part of Durham County within the I-540/I-40 interchange area).
The operational rules are simple, but effective: transit buses can travel up to 35 MPH in the outside shoulder, whenever traffic on the main travel lanes falls below 35 MPH. Buses cannot travel more than 15 MPH faster than adjacent traffic, however, so if I-40 is stopped, your bus will only travel up to 15 MPH in that shoulder. Of course, that is much better than traveling 0 MPH in stopped traffic.
RTA continues to support the BOSS program and its expansion, including the prior planning study by CAMPO. We also support an enhanced program for that would active the inside or median shoulder along freeways for reserved uses, including transit, which is currently referred to as a dynamic median shoulder system (DMSS).
Kudos to NCDOT and GoTriangle for allowing transit patrons to “BOSS” around their commute, now going on the 15th year of service.
The regional business community remains fully committed to rapidly advancing the region’s mobility future, today and every day.
Let’s get moving,
Joe
Joe Milazzo II, PE
RTA executive director
