Carolina's Triangle Region Pursues 2020 Transit Expansion

"A three-county citizens advisory group agreed Monday to push for an ambitious transit expansion that would increase local and regional bus service and spend $2 billion to launch trains across the Triangle by 2020.

Fifty-six miles of tracks would carry trains with commuters, students, shoppers and sports fans from Chapel Hill to Durham, Research Triangle Park, Cary, downtown Raleigh and North Raleigh.

Triangle voters would cover about half the cost if they agree to two new levies -- a half-penny sales tax and a $10 annual car registration fee, or their equivalent. Members of the Special Transit Advisory Commission also agreed to push for 25 percent funding from the state and 25 percent funding from Washington.

'I think we have a consensus for a 2020 plan, and a consensus that we need to find the money to make it work,' said George Cianciolo of Chapel Hill, a Duke University pathologist who is co-chairman of the 29-member advisory panel."