In the 1990s, transportation planners picked a wooded lot on the edge of Research Triangle Park to build a station for buses and commuter trains.
More than 25 years later, the trees are all still there.
But now GoTriangle, the regional bus system , has received $25 million from the federal government to help build a new station on the land, near the corner of N.C. 54 and South Miami Boulevard.
The station, which GoTriangle calls the Triangle Mobility Hub, will replace the agency’s bare-bones transfer center carved out of a parking lot about a mile and a half away. GoTriangle hopes to begin using the station by the end of 2028.
This transit hub will help the Research Triangle Foundation fulfill its vision of turning RTP into more of a 24-hour place, rather than a suburban office park that everyone leaves each afternoon. The foundation owns the 19-acre site and will seek to rezone the land around the station for a more urban mix of apartments, restaurants and offices.
The land also abuts the main rail line between Raleigh and Durham and is considered a potential stop for commuter trains someday. The foundation, which manages the 7,000-acre park, is also urging Amtrak and the state to add a stop at the site for the Piedmont, the train that makes four daily round trips between Charlotte and Raleigh , said Travis Crayton, the foundation’s vice president of planning and public policy.