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Third time's a charm? Raleigh will try again to find a builder for its bus rapid transit line

An artist's rendering a bus rapid transit station in front of WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh
City of Raleigh
An artist's rendering a bus rapid transit station in front of WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh

Raleigh is expected to reopen bids for contractors sometime in the spring to build a bus rapid transit line after the first two attempts failed.

The city's first bus rapid transit line is expected to run down New Bern Avenue between downtown and New Hope Road.

Raleigh has solicited contractors for bids twice, but received only one bid that was $30 million over its $90 million budget.

Het Patel, the city's transit planning supervisor overseeing the project, said contractors were largely skeptical about finishing the bus line in the two years the city allowed.

"We did increase the schedule timeframe to up to a three-and-a-half-year construction window with some incentives to try to get construction completed sooner," Patel said. "So, the next steps now are to look at how we could geographically break down the work."

Patel says the work could be divided into four contracts or more in an attempt to get more bids, but there are currently no plans to increase the budget.

"We've decided that we had a budget through the federal grant that was received and through the local Wake Transit Plan dollars that we had for the project that we'd like to stay within or close within," Patel said. "We're trying to make sure we're being mindful of the tax dollars collected locally that are going toward these projects."

Raleigh officials are meeting with contractors later this month to get more feedback on how to make the work more attractive to them.

The city has plans for at least three more bus rapid transit lines that would run to Cary, Garner and Raleigh's Greyhound bus station.

Will Michaels is WUNC's Weekend Host and Reporter.
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