Construction has started on the first phase of a new high-speed rail line designed to link Raleigh, N.C., to Richmond, Va.
The work got under way following a July 1 groundbreaking in the state capital attended by Pete Buttigieg, secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper.
According to a July 2 NC Newsline report, the $1.3 billion project funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is the largest grant ever received by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT).
Planners hope that by 2030 it will provide passenger service between downtown Raleigh and the town of Wake Forest, a few miles to the northeast, and become the first leg of a proposed high-speed rail connection from there to Richmond and points north.
"This is the beginning of a new chapter in passenger rail in North Carolina and really one of the biggest projects that we're supporting anywhere in the country," Buttigieg told reporters.
He later joined Cooper on a visit across the state to view other active construction sites and groundbreakings for critical infrastructure projects that were made possible by President Biden's Investing in America Agenda. Along the way, Buttigieg met with local leaders, union representatives, workers and small business owners, the USDOT noted in a news release.
The trip also marked the beginning of Buttigieg's summer construction tour where he is visiting new and ongoing infrastructure projects across America.
Cooper highlighted the role of passenger rail in improving connectivity and reducing carbon emissions during the groundbreaking ceremony.
"It helps reduce carbon emissions and helps us to save our planet as well as providing a great opportunity for people to get from one place to the next in a better way," he said. "We know cutting down travel times in that arena is going to make it even better for our economy and make it better for the people in North Carolina."
The Raleigh-to-Richmond rail project will use the existing S-Line rail corridor, a freight rail line currently owned by CSX. Virginia has already acquired its portion of the line, and North Carolina officials are currently finalizing a deal to purchase its part of the corridor, noted NC Newsline.
In May, the White House announced that it had allocated nearly $454 billion from BIL to over 56,000 projects around the country since the passage of the $1 trillion bill in 2021.
The Tarheel State is set to receive $9.4 billion in funding from the law for 512 projects. The grant includes about $633 million for clean water projects, with $175 million going toward replacing toxic lead pipes, according to a fact sheet released by the White House.
"North Carolina has done very well in investments from the federal government with this bipartisan infrastructure legislation," said Cooper. "I'm so grateful that President Biden got this and other major pieces of legislation through that really are generational investments that will help our children and our children's children."
Buttigieg Also Visited Sites in Three Other N.C. Cities
Following the groundbreaking, Buttigieg toured the ongoing construction along Interstate 440 in Raleigh to receive a briefing on the progress on NCDOT's Blue Ridge Road project and meet with construction workers at the site. The project received $15.2 million in funding from the BIL and will improve traffic flow, access, and efficiency along the Raleigh Beltline.
The next day, Buttigieg traveled two hours west to Winston-Salem for a tour of construction sites for that city's ongoing Northern Beltway Project, the recipient of $350 million in federal funding from the Biden administration.
He then joined Cooper, Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines, North Carolina Board of Transportation Chair Mike Fox, and local leaders outside Truist Stadium to kick off the city's Salem Parkway Multi-Use Path, part of which is funded by the federal infrastructure package.
"These kinds of improvements are not ornamental, they are fundamental to our agenda to move toward a vision of zero roadway and traffic deaths in our country," Buttigieg said during the event. "This is important work."
The Winston-Salem Journal reported that the Salem Parkway Multi-Use Path will run between the city's Strollway Pedestrian Bridge near the Liberty Street crossing of Salem Parkway to Fourth Street to the west. A second phase of work will later extend the biking and walking path to the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist medical campus.
When downtown Winston-Salem's Business 40 was closed for a major reconstruction and renamed Salem Parkway, work carried out from those designs included space for the multi-use path. One of the most notable features was a tunnel built under Peters Creek Parkway near the baseball stadium to take future path users underneath the crossing point.
The bulk of the money for the $4.8 million path's first phase of work is coming from state and federal sources. Its construction is being carried out by Smith-Rowe LLC of Mount Airy, N.C., under management by the city. The section from the Strollway to Fourth Street is expected to be open by the summer of 2025.
From Winston-Salem, Buttigieg and Cooper then headed east to North Carolina A&T State University's Transportation Institute in Greensboro for a discussion about transportation research and innovation with university administrators, faculty and students.
They closed out their trip in back in the Triangle to highlight some of the major RAISE grant investments in North Carolina — including the recently announced $12 million grant to the City of Durham to improve 33 intersections along Holloway Street, that city's busiest transit route.
Buttigieg and Cooper were accompanied by U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee, D-4th District, Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams and other local leaders to tour Holloway Street and meet with business owners and workers.
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