Raleigh schedules Aug. 12 meeting ahead of New Bern Avenue BRT construction solicitation

The City of Raleigh will hold a virtual pre-advertisement meeting on Aug. 12, 2026, as it prepares for the next construction solicitation connected to the New Bern Avenue Bus Rapid Transit project.

The meeting is a procurement-stage update, not a contract award. City officials plan to present updates from the previous 2024 solicitation and discuss coordination with roadway contractors whose work is already underway in the corridor.

The city posted the project update on July 20. The meeting is the next identified step for a transit and roadway project spanning a 5.1-mile New Bern Avenue corridor in Raleigh.

What the project includes

The New Bern Avenue BRT corridor runs between GoRaleigh Station in downtown Raleigh and New Hope Road. About 3.3 miles of the 5.1-mile corridor are planned to use dedicated transit lanes between GoRaleigh Station and Sunnybrook Road.

That means dedicated transit lanes are planned for only part of the project corridor, rather than the full 5.1-mile route. The city identifies Sunnybrook Road as the eastern end of the dedicated-lane segment.

For the portion from Sunnybrook Road to New Hope Road, the city said advertising was scheduled for 2026. The Aug. 12 meeting comes as the city seeks to update contractors about that process and how their work would be coordinated with roadway construction already in progress.

What remains undecided

The city’s construction update does not provide a final construction award date, a total project cost or a final completion date. It also does not identify funding sources in the information released for the meeting.

Those omissions are significant because the Aug. 12 session is an advance step before advertising, rather than evidence that a construction contract has been selected. The city has not stated that the meeting guarantees bids or a contract award.

The update also does not set out specific closures or transit service changes. Travelers and businesses along the New Bern Avenue corridor will need to await later project notices for details about construction timing, access or operational effects.

For now, the known timetable is limited: the virtual contractor meeting is scheduled for Aug. 12, and the Sunnybrook Road-to-New Hope Road section was scheduled to be advertised during 2026. Raleigh’s update frames the immediate task as coordinating the forthcoming BRT solicitation with roadway work already underway.