Busway Street Section

How to Participate

Text change TC-4-21 “Transit Street Cross-Sections and Green Plus Frontage” is scheduled for a City Council public hearing on May 17. Visit the Public Hearings for City Council page for more details. Comprehensive Plan amendment CP-14-21 “Busway Streets” starts the Planning Commission review on May 10. The Planning Commission web page has information on how to participate.

Background

The Street Plan, a component of the 2030 Comprehensive Plan, identifies the street type for many roads in Raleigh. The design requirements (sidewalks, parking, lane width, etc.) of each street type is detailed in the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). These two documents help Raleigh prepare for growth and build the right type of road for a specific location. With new investments in transit, including the Bus Rapid Transit system, it is important to establish a street type that is specific to roads where dedicated bus lanes are considered.

TC-4-2021 would amend the UDO to add standard street cross-sections that include bus lanes and associated space to operate bus rapid transit or other transit service separated from the general traffic. The cross-sections will include options with two, four, and six lanes of the general traffic. The cross-sections will otherwise be common with the two, four, and six-lane divided avenue standards in the existing UDO. These standards were modified by TC-3-2021 on October 5, 2021, to include separated bikeways.

The text change will be followed by a comprehensive plan amendment to apply the new standard cross-sections to most of the Eastern, Western, and Southern BRT corridors as determined through the Locally Preferred Alternatives of the transit planning process. The Comprehensive Plan amendment is called CP-14-21 “Busway Streets”. Application of busway cross-sections to the planned Northern BRT corridor may follow a Major Investment Study (MIS) for that corridor.

Timeline

The project started with a series of public meetings in November 2021. Those meetings were combined with introductory meetings for the Transit Overlay District (TOD) Mapping. The Busway Streets and TOD Mapping projects both apply to the Western and Southern BRT corridors. Videos of those meetings are linked on the TOD Mapping web page.

The text change is under review by the City Council in May 2022. The Comprehensive Plan amendment begins review at the Planning Commission in May 2022.