David King, the Triangle Transit general manager, is working up the answers to two lists of probing questions about the Wake County transit plan – one from a business group that likes the proposal for new trains and more buses, and one from county commissioners who don’t like it.

Durham County voters have approved a half-cent sales tax to pay for more buses, commuter trains and light rail trains.  Orange County voters are expected to vote likewise in November for buses and light rail.  But the Wake commissioners have not said when or whether they will approve Wake’s transit plan and schedule a referendum on the proposed sales tax that would help pay for it.  

“We believe that a half-cent sales tax increase and associated fee increase during high unemployment and poor economic conditions must be approached with extreme caution,” Paul Coble and Phil Matthews, the chairman and vice-chairman of the Wake commissioners, said in an Aug. 6 letter (see PDF attached to this blog post, below) to King.  ... [MORE]

View Wade Avenue: 60mph in a larger map

After a study confirmed that most drivers are going 65mph -- safely -- on the busy Wade Avenue Extension in West Raleigh, NCDOT has raised the speed limit from 55mph to 60mph.

Lead-foot drivers and other folks, is this a good idea? Let me hear from you, and don't forget your name and workday phone number. [2/16/12 update: see today's story with reader comments.]

DOT made the change after considering a recommendation from the Regional Transportation Alliance, a transportation-advocacy business group. The change covers about two miles, from I-40 to a spot about 500 feet west of the I-440 Beltline.  Then it drops to 45mph, and then after Ridge Road to 35mph. 

DOT engineers also will study other freeway routes around the Triangle for a possible speed-limit increase from 65mph now to 70mph.

RTA's wish list also includes

- the entire 540 Outer Loop,
- US 1 from Cary to Sanford,
- the N.C. 147 Durham Freeway (from the future East End Connector in East Durham to I-40 and continuing on the new tolled portion of Triangle Expressway through RTP to NC 540), and
- I-40 between Aviation Parkway and Lake Wheeler Road.

Most Triangle voters are still willing to pay a half-penny sales tax for better bus and rail transit service – but support for the transit tax in Wake County has weakened – according the third yearly poll commissioned by a pro-transit business lobby.

The yes vote was 57 percent for Wake, Durham and Orange counties combined. That’s down from 58 percent in 2010 but still higher than the 53 percent yes vote in 2009.

It probably didn’t hurt, from the standpoint of transit boosters, that gas prices were soaring above $3.50 a gallon as Ohio-based Fallon Research quizzed 904 registered voters between March 6 and March 9.

When the specter of even higher pump prices was raised, 23 percent of poll respondents said $4 gas would make them more likely to favor a transit tax. And 31 percent said the same for – eek! – $5 gas.

The poll was commissioned by the Regional Transportation Alliance, a nonprofit Triangle business group, which lobbies for transit and other transportation improvements. ... [MORE]