 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2018) |
This article is intended to give an overview of transportation in North Carolina.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2018) |
This article is intended to give an overview of transportation in North Carolina.
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Amtrak operates several passenger rail lines in North Carolina. Each train is daily except the Piedmont which is twice-daily.
The state subsidizes both the Piedmont and Carolinian intercity rail between Raleigh and Charlotte and serving the Research Triangle. Amtrak has announced a third subsidized train that will run between Raleigh and Charlotte. This train will run midday to complement the Piedmont and Carolinian and include stops in Greensboro, Burlington, and High Point. There is also the Crescent which runs from New York to Atlanta during the early morning before dawn.
The planned Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor includes service along the old Seaboard Air Line Railroad mainline, which is now CSX's underutilized "S" line, north of Raleigh, and the North Carolina Railroad lines south of Raleigh currently used by the Carolinian and Piedmont services. In 2022, the USDOT granted North Carolina $58 million to start the Raleigh-Richmond segment of this corridor.
The State has also explored several other rail options, which would include GoTriangle Commuter service from Raleigh to Durham, and potentially Fayetteville. Some of the proposed routes are:
Several cities are served by mass transit systems.
The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) operates a historical trolley line and 76 bus and shuttle routes serving Charlotte and its satellite cities. In 2007 it opened the LYNX light rail line connecting Charlotte with suburban Pineville. There are future plans to expand LYNX Light Rail as well as implementation of Commuter Rail and Streetcar.
Raleigh is serviced by GoRaleigh. GoRaleigh also operates a historical trolley line giving tours of the historic areas of Downtown Raleigh and other areas of interest in the Capital City. It operates 35 bus routes, 4 of which are express routes, and a downtown circulator called the R-Line which services the entertainment and shopping areas of Downtown Raleigh. N.C. State University within the City of Raleigh operates its own bus line named the Wolfline to provide service to the university's students and employees.
Cary is serviced by GoCary which operates 6 routes.
Durham is serviced by GoDurham which operates 22 bus routes, 1 of which is a special service running from Northern High School to Downtown Durham twice a day on school days only.
Wake Forest is served by GoRaleigh which operates 2 loop routes there, one does a clockwise loop and the other is counterclockwise.
The Fayetteville Area System of Transit (FAST) serves the city with ten bus routes and two shuttle routes.
GoTriangle operates buses that serve the Triangle region and connect to municipal bus systems in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary.
Greensboro is serviced by the Greensboro Transit Authority (GTA), which operates 14 bus routes. Additionally, the Higher Education Area Transit (HEAT) system provides service to students who attend the following institutions: Bennett College, Elon University School of Law, Greensboro College, Guilford College, Guilford Technical Community College, North Carolina A&T State University, and University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The HEAT service provides transportation between campuses and various other destinations, including downtown Greensboro.
Winston-Salem Transit Authority (WSTA) operates 30 bus routes around the city of Winston-Salem; additionally, WSTA recently completed construction of a central downtown mult-modal transportation center with 16 covered bus bays adjacent to a large enclosed lobby/waiting area. There are future plans being discussed for a $52 million streetcar system connecting Piedmont Triad Research Park/Downtown with Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.
Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation (PART) is the Triad's 10-county regional organization with the goal of enhancing all forms of transportation through regional cooperation. PART Express Bus provides express shuttle service to each major Triad city from Piedmont Triad International Airport, while Connections Express connects the Triad to Duke and UNC Medical Centers. PART is also administering and developing several rail service studies that include both commuter and intercity rail.
Wilmington's Wave Transit operates six bus lines within the city as well as five shuttles to nearby areas and a downtown trolley.
In July 2008, Western Piedmont Regional Transit Authority began serving Burke, Caldwell, Catawba and Alexander counties in the region just west of Charlotte, and include the cities of Conover, Hickory, Lenoir, Morganton, and Taylorsville. [1]
Jacksonville recently began a trial bus system called the LOOP, which runs two routes through the city and nearby Camp Lejeune. But this loop has yet to be made permanent.
Asheville operates the Asheville Transit System, which consists of sixteen bus lines [2] providing service throughout the City of Asheville and to Black Mountain, North Carolina.
Greenville is serviced by Greenville Area Transit (GREAT), as well as East Carolina University Transit, which focuses on transit for students, faculty and staff of ECU, and Vidant Medical Center transportation, which provides shuttles from parking lots, as well as in between offices in Greenville. Pitt County is serviced by Pitt Area Transit, which also operates within Greenville City limits.
The North Carolina Highway System consists of a vast network of Interstate Highways, including Interstate 26, Interstate 40, Interstate 73, Interstate 74, Interstate 77, Interstate 85 and Interstate 95, U.S. Highways, and state highways. North Carolina has the largest state-maintained highway network in the United States, with 77,400 miles (124,600 km) of roadway. [3]
Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus is an interchange with I-95 in Petersburg, Virginia, near Richmond. It is nominally north–south as it carries an odd number, but it is physically oriented northeast–southwest and covers a larger east-west span than north-south. While most Interstates that end in a "5" are cross-country, I-85 is primarily a regional route serving five southeastern states: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. Major metropolitan areas served by I-85 include the Greater Richmond Region in Virginia, the Research Triangle, Piedmont Triad, and Charlotte metropolitan area regions of North Carolina, Upstate South Carolina, the Atlanta metropolitan area in Georgia, and the Montgomery metropolitan area in Alabama. There are plans to extend I-85 along the US Route 80 (US 80) corridor into Mississippi. Because of its unusually diagonal nature, portions of I-85 are to the west of I-75, which puts I-85 out of the Interstate grid.
Asheville Regional Airport is a Class C airport near Interstate 26 near the town of Fletcher, 9 miles (14 km) south of downtown Asheville, in the U.S. state of North Carolina, United States. It is owned by the Greater Asheville Regional Airport Authority. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2019–2023 categorized it as a small-hub primary commercial service facility. In 2019 it served an all-time record number of passengers for the airport, 1,616,762, an increase of 43% over 2018 and the sixth consecutive year of record traffic.
The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont region of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by the cities of Raleigh and Durham and the town of Chapel Hill, home to three major research universities: North Carolina State University, Duke University, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, respectively. The nine-county region, officially named the Raleigh–Durham–Cary combined statistical area (CSA), comprises the Raleigh–Cary and Durham–Chapel Hill Metropolitan Statistical Areas and the Henderson Micropolitan Statistical Area. The "Triangle" name originated in the 1950s with the creation of Research Triangle Park, located between the three anchor cities and home to numerous high tech companies.
The Research Triangle Regional Public Transportation Authority, known as GoTriangle, provides regional bus service to the Research Triangle region of North Carolina in Wake, Durham, and Orange counties. The GoTriangle name was adopted in 2015 as part of the consolidated GoTransit branding scheme for the Triangle. In 2021, the system had a ridership of 1,362,700, or about 5,300 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2022.
The Piedmont Triad is a metropolitan region in the north-central part of the U.S. state of North Carolina anchored by three cities: Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point. This close group of cities lies in the Piedmont geographical region of the United States and forms the basis of the Greensboro–Winston-Salem–High Point Combined Statistical Area. As of 2012, the Piedmont Triad has an estimated population of 1,611,243 making it the 33rd largest combined statistical area in the United States.
The Southeast Corridor (SEC) is a proposed passenger rail transportation project in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States to extend high-speed passenger rail services from Washington, D.C. south through Richmond, Petersburg with a spur to Norfolk in Virginia through Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro and south to Charlotte in North Carolina and connect with the existing high-speed rail corridor from D.C. to Boston, Massachusetts known as the Northeast Corridor. Since first established in 1992, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has extended the corridor to Atlanta, Georgia and Macon, Georgia; Greenville, South Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; and Birmingham, Alabama.
Smith Reynolds Airport is a public airport 3 miles (5 km) northeast of Winston-Salem in Forsyth County, North Carolina. The airport has two runways, and is used for general aviation and flight training as there is now no scheduled passenger airline. It is home to the Winston-Salem air show, usually held in September, which draws about 20,000 spectators.
J. Douglas Galyon Depot, also known as Greensboro station, is an intermodal transit facility in Greensboro, North Carolina. Located at 236 East Washington Street in downtown Greensboro, it serves Amtrak passenger rail and is the city's main hub for local and intercity buses.
Cary station is an active train station located in Cary, North Carolina. It is served by three Amtrak trains: the Silver Star, Carolinian, and Piedmont services. Service from the Cary Station is to Charlotte, Miami, New York, and points in between.
The Piedmont Crescent, also known as the Piedmont Urban Crescent, is a large, polycentric urbanized region in the U.S. state of North Carolina that forms the northern section of the rapidly developing Piedmont Atlantic megalopolis, a conurbation also known as the "I-85 Boombelt", which extends from the Raleigh area to Atlanta, Georgia in the southeastern United States.
Raleigh Union Station is an intermodal transit station in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Train service began the morning of July 10, 2018. Its main building serves as an Amtrak train station, while a future adjacent building will serve as the bus terminus for GoTriangle. The station is located at the Boylan Wye, a railroad junction used by CSX and Norfolk Southern, and adjacent to the Depot Historic District in downtown Raleigh.
Central North Carolina, also known as the Piedmont, is a region of North Carolina. It is located between the Mountains to the west and the Coastal Plain to the east. It is the most populous region of the state, containing Charlotte, the state capital of Raleigh, and Greensboro. These cities form the Piedmont Crescent region, much of which parallels I-85. The geography of the Piedmont primarily consists of rolling hills. Historically the region has been known for furniture and textile manufacturing.
The transportation needs for the city of Charlotte, North Carolina are served by an expanding mass transit system, major airport, and several highways.
The Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion (PAM) is a neologism created by the Regional Plan Association for an area of the Southeastern United States that includes the Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, Memphis, Nashville, Research Triangle (Raleigh-Durham), and Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point metropolitan areas. The megaregion generally follows the Interstate 85/20 corridor. According to Georgia Tech, PAM represents over 12 percent of the total United States population and covers over 243,000 square miles (630,000 km2) of land.
The Carolinian is a daily passenger train that runs between Charlotte, North Carolina and New York City. The train began operation in 1990 and is jointly funded and operated by Amtrak and the North Carolina Department of Transportation. A previous iteration operated between 1984-1985. Onboard services include coach, business class, and a cafe car. The train operates over the Northeast Corridor between New York and Washington, D.C. Northbound trains leave Charlotte at breakfast time and arrive in New York in the early evening, while southbound trains leave New York during the morning rush and arrive in Charlotte in the evening.
The Piedmont is a regional passenger train operated by Amtrak and the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), running six times a day between Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina. It is a sister train to the Carolinian, which runs from Charlotte to New York City. The Piedmont route is coextensive with the far southern leg of the Carolinian, largely paralleling Interstate 85. Operations began in May 1995.
Southern Express is an American transportation company dealing with charter bus services and related passenger transportation services. Based in the Raleigh/Durham area of North Carolina, the company was founded in 2009 by Bruce Bechard and Vance Hoover.
The Charlotte metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as Metrolina, is a metropolitan area of the U.S. states of North and South Carolina, within and surrounding the city of Charlotte. The metropolitan area also includes the cities of Gastonia, Concord, Huntersville, and Rock Hill as well as the large suburban area in the counties surrounding Mecklenburg County, which is at the center of the metro area. Located in the Piedmont, it is the largest metropolitan area in the Carolinas, and the fourth largest in the Southeastern United States. The Charlotte metropolitan area is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the United States.
NC By Train is a brand name used by the Rail Division of the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) for two state-supported Amtrak routes operating in the U. S. state of North Carolina–the Carolinian and the Piedmont.
