As the holiday season is upon us, we find ourselves reflecting on the past year and those who have helped us accomplish our goal of making Durham a great place to live, work, and play. It’s been quite a year for us in the Department of Transportation. With the spirit of the New Year, we are highlighting our favorite moments of 2022 and sharing a few of our plans for 2023.
- Sustainable Transportation Expo
Way to Go Durham hosted the inaugural Sustainable Transportation Expo at the Earth Day Festival in Durham Central Park. The event featured multiple booths, including GoDurham, Better Bus Project, Commute with Enterprise, Bike Durham, Durham Bike Co-op, and Bike Valet. The City’s electric bus made a debut appearance at the festival to highlight the importance of sustainable travel. The highlight of the Way to Go Durham Sustainable Transportation Expo was the Traffic Garden which the Triangle J Council of Governments facilitated. Children learned about road rules and safety at the traffic garden and received free bike helmets. Way to Go Durham handed out information on the Way to Go Durham program and safety equipment, including lights, reflective bands, and bike bells.
- Bull E-Bike Pilot Launch
On August 15, the Bull E-Bike Pilot launched its first cohort at the Chapel Hill Street Parking Garage. The team hosted several orientations resulting in 7 cohorts and a total of 61 participants. 47.5% of participants identified as male, 32.8% identified as female, and 18% identified as non-binary or gender non-conforming. Additionally, 11.5% of the program’s participants reported being transgender. The cohorts’ median age was 34.
In addition to their e-bike, each participant received a personalized route from work to home, hands-on training, a helmet, a safety vest, bike lights, and other accessories. The data from the pilot shows that the participants traveled 2,933 miles. Of those trips, 54.6% were for work. 38.1% of SOV trips were replaced with the e-bike. To view more of the pilot’s impact visit the website.
- Regional Transit Awareness Day
In September, the Department of Transportation welcomed 80 guests to Durham Station as part of Regional Transit Awareness Day. The event was an opportunity for regional business community stakeholders and transportation officials to explore a day in the life of transit riders across multiple modes of transportation.
- Bike Fixit Stations Installed
In December, our crew installed two brand new bike fixit stations at the Chapel Hill St and Corcoran parking decks. These installations are a part of our efforts to improve the cycling experience across the City.
2023 Plans:
- Biking and Sidewalk Improvement Plans:
In October, City of Durham transportation planners created maps to showcase our future funded bike projects and how they will complete our existing network increasing the total number of miles of facilities by 41. View these maps to view the plans: “What’s Next? Durham’s Future Bike Network” and “Building A Walkable City: Increasing Access and Connectivity.”
With the $19.8-Million-dollar funding for the Durham Rail Trail and Durham Station, numerous improvements to Durham Station will be added. This month City Council started the design phase and selected a group to manage the project. By 2025, we anticipate seeing Durham station with more bus bays, pavement repairs, expanded outdoor canopies, more restrooms and seating, plus a new customer service and security kiosk. The Transportation team secured a $10.8M Federal Transit Administration grant and a local match of $2.7M from the Durham County Transit Plan to finance these improvements. In the beginning months of 2023, we will solicit input from the community for the design. We encourage you to participate when that time comes.
This year in review features only a handful of the projects, events, and initiatives our staff have launched or participated in, but what a year it has been. We thank you all for your continued support and wish you a safe and prosperous holiday season and new year. In 2023 and beyond, we will continue to ensure that Durham and its transportation infrastructure remain safe for all to live, work, and play.