ANNUAL EVENT TO CELEBRATE LAUNCH OF BRT CORRIDORS ACROSS TRIANGLE
AND HIGHLIGHT COMPLEMENTARY “FAST” TRANSIT STUDY TO RDU AIRPORT
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA — The RTA Transportation Breakfast 2023, presented by the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina, will be held on Friday, July 21 from 7:30 – 10:00 a.m. at the new Westin Raleigh-Durham Airport Hotel. This year’s event features more than 20 elected officials, transportation partners and business leaders from five counties who are serving as panelists and presenters on regional BRT and an upcoming FAST transit study.
The 2023 RTA breakfast will focus on the impacts and opportunities of the regional launch of BRT (bus rapid transit or “buses resembling trains”) and introduce a complementary study of Freeway, Arterial, Street, and Tactical (FAST) transit that will link five BRT corridors together and directly serve Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
Elected official panelists who will offer perspectives on BRT and transit will include Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin, Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht, Durham City Councilor Leonardo Williams, Chapel Hill Town Councilor Michael Parker, Capital Area MPO Chair and Wake Forest Mayor Vivian Jones, Johnston County Board of Commissioners Chair Butch Lawter, Wake County Vice Chair Susan Evans, Chatham County Vice Chair Mike Dasher, and Orange County Commissioner Sally Greene.
Attendees will also hear from business and transportation leader panelists including RTA Chair Jay Irby of First Citizens Bank, Donald Gintzig with Wake Med Health and Hospitals, Scott Levitan with the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina, Gordon Merklein with UNC Chapel Hill, Than Austin with NC State University, Bill Sandifer with the RDU Airport Authority, Brandon Jones with NCDOT, GoTriangle Chair Sig Hutchinson, and Ellen Beckmann with Durham County.
In addition, David Eatman and Het Patel with the City of Raleigh, Brian Litchfield with the Town of Chapel Hill, and John Vine-Hodge with NCDOT will give an overview of the region’s active BRT projects and the new FAST study.
The annual RTA breakfast is an opportunity for more than 200 business leaders and elected officials to stay at the forefront of the region’s key mobility challenges. Visit letsgetmoving.org/breakfast for more information.
“Accelerating BRT corridors and identifying new BRT and FAST transit infrastructure are the best ways to quickly advance our enhanced regional transit future. With growth and housing affordability inexorably tied to mobility options, the regional business community looks forward to an insightful conversation with our region’s elected and transportation leaders at the RTA breakfast event on July 21.”
– Joe Milazzo II, PE, RTA Executive Director
About the Regional Transportation Alliance
RTA is the voice of the regional business community on transportation in North Carolina’s Research Triangle area. Founded in 2002, RTA is a metropolitan, private-public partnership that drives consensus and action. More than 100 leading companies work in concert through the RTA alongside more than 25 member chambers of commerce across 13 counties in central, southern, and eastern North Carolina and a host of regional partners. RTA is a regional program of the Raleigh Chamber.
RTA delivers business leadership to get our region moving faster. Learn more at letsgetmoving.org.
