Raleigh municipality planning to construct a fresh GoRaleigh Access hub
Raleigh, N.C., Constructs New GoRaleigh Access Facility for Paratransit Users
The city of Raleigh, North Carolina, is building a new GoRaleigh Access facility to better serve paratransit users, including people with disabilities, older adults, and rural residents. The project, initiated in 2025, aims to create a "model" paratransit facility that is durable, resilient, sustainable, and a signature facility as a new national paratransit standard.
The new facility, scheduled to be completed on-time and within budget, will boast a modern maintenance garage of approximately 31,400 square feet and a contemporary office and operations space of around 17,700 square feet. The maintenance garage will feature eight bays for vehicle work, storage for parts, and office space for maintenance staff, as well as separate areas for cleaning and washing vehicles.
The project's goals also include making the facility barrier-free, welcoming, safe, and secure, and finding solutions that improve the employee experience and can increase retention. The new facility will host call centers for both Raleigh and Wake County, and it will provide ADA eligibility testing for the paratransit program.
The call centers schedule more than 2,000 daily trips, and the new facility's construction is a response to the current one, built in the 1970s on top of a landfill from the early 1900s, becoming unsafe and too old to meet today's needs. The project aims to strengthen partnerships and build trust, and it will consolidate operations by bringing the city/county, the call center, administrative, and operations under one roof, improving efficiency.
The firm involved in the planning and development of the new GoRaleigh Access building is Gresham Smith. City staff and Stantec met with end users of GoRaleigh and GoWake paratransit operations in July 2025 to kick off programming efforts. A Master Planning Charrette was held in August 2025, where a desired layout of all exterior areas and buildings was chosen.
The project's goals include meeting the needs of the community by engaging with end users and being transparent. The new facility should be an LEED Silver Facility, reduce maintenance/utility costs, retain aesthetic over time, be functional and multi-purpose, and be future-proofed to accommodate growth and change. The facility should also be inviting and desirable, going beyond ADA accessibility, and making it easy to visit for eligibility screenings.
The goal is to make the new GoRaleigh Access facility a signature facility, a new national paratransit standard, and a place where paratransit users feel safe, welcomed, and well-served.
