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Transit Infrastructure 
(see Plate 16)
This section comprised the second element of our
Corridor typology, for as the core area continues to
urbanize, public transportation must play a more
important role in providing mobility choices for
residents as well as workers. The regional transit
DESIGN FIRST: DESIGN-BASED PLANNING FOR COMMUNITIES
6:30 p.m. 
Sponsor reception
7:00–9:00 p.m. Opening presentation
8:30 a.m. 
Developers’ and focus area 
owners’ plans and advice
10:00 a.m. 
All interested participants 
1:00 p.m. 
All interested participants
5:30–6:00 p.m. Pin-up sesssion/update
7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Closing presentation
8:00 a.m.
Closing presentation summary
Monday, April 8
Charrette Schedule
April 2002
Wednesday, April 10
Thursday, April 11
Friday, April 12
Tuesday, April 9
8:30 a.m. 
Water resources and
environment 
focus
10:00 a.m. 
Transportation focus – roads
11:00 a.m. 
Transportation focus – transit
1:00 p.m. 
Open space, trails and parks 
focus
2:30 p.m. 
Community facilities focus 
5:30–6.00 p.m. Pin-up session/update
7:00–9.00 p.m. Participatory design
Figure 7.1
CORE Charrette Schedule. Meetings are prearranged with key individuals and groups, but 
design work begins on the first morning and continues all day, each day, with a public discussion of each
day’s design ideas at 5.30 pm.
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CHAPTER SEVEN
●
THE REGION
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corridors currently comprise the planned TTA Phase
I commuter rail project through the study area, a
future connector branching off west to the university
town of Chapel Hill, and a long-term future
north–south corridor running along a freight rail line
that parallels the western boundary of the study area.
We proposed one major addition to this transit
system, shown in purple in Plate 16. Other recom-
mendations regarding types of development that are
more supportive of transit are included in the sec-
tions on Mixed-use Centers, Neighborhoods and
Districts below.
Main Transit Recommendation
Create a transit loop for the CORE that connects the
TTA Phase 1 corridor with the RTP and the airport
.
To complement the first phase of the commuter
rail line, we mapped a new high-frequency circulating
service that would cover a large portion of the CORE
study area, connecting many of our proposed mixed-
use centers with RTP office campuses and the airport.
The success this loop would depend on high-density
development in the proposed mixed-use centers as
well as convenient connections at the commuter train
stations.
Many leaders in the Triangle expressed the belief
that in order for the commuter rail system to be suc-
cessful, it had to be connected to the airport, otherwise
business customers wouldn’t use the train. Yet, transit
studies of journeys to and from airports across the U.S.
by bus and train have indicated that most trips were
made not by people who were travelling somewhere
else, but by people who worked at the airport. While
the number of business travellers using transit might
be expected to rise in the coming years, this mixed rid-
ership reinforced our concern that the CORE loop
must connect not only the airport, but all the new
mixed-use activity centers and the RTP. To succeed,
the transit service must serve as wide a spectrum of
customers as possible to maximize its ridership.
Our CORE transit loop intersected the rail line at
the already planned RTP North/IBM Station and at a
new North Morrisville Station proposed in our plan.
We also proposed an additional connection to the
future transit line to Chapel Hill – located at the
RTP Service Center just west of the Triangle Metro
Center. In the long term, we envisioned this loop as
a ‘fixed guideway system’ such as rapid bus, streetcar
or light rail, but the service could begin as more con-
ventional bus service and expand as future demand
makes more advanced technologies financially
feasible. As real estate and infrastructure development
projects move forward, a corridor for the CORE loop
must be preserved.