City of Raleigh to build new GoRaleigh Access facility

The city of Raleigh, N.C., is building a new GoRaleigh Access facility for paratransit users. According to the city, the new office space will support the operations team, provide ADA eligibility testing for the paratransit program and host call centers for both Raleigh and Wake County. The call centers schedule more than 2,000 daily trips for people with disabilities, older adults and rural residents who rely on public transit in Raleigh and Wake County. 

The city notes the new facility will include about 17,700 square feet of office and operations space, plus 31,400 square feet for a modern maintenance garage. The garage will feature eight bays for vehicle work, storage for parts and office space for maintenance staff. It will also include separate areas for cleaning and washing vehicles. 

According to the city, the current building was built in the 1970s on top of a landfill from the early 1900s and over time, the building has become unsafe and too old to meet today’s needs.  

Design 

The city kicked off the design phase of the project with Stantec in June 2025. A month later, city staff and Stantec sat down with the end users of GoRaleigh and GoWake paratransit operations to kick off programming efforts. In August 2025, the same groups met with Stantec and undergone a Master Planning Charrette, where a desired layout of all exterior areas and buildings were chosen. 

Project goals 

• Make the facility durable, resilient and sustainable. 
• The facility should reduce maintenance/utility costs; retains aesthetic over time; be functional and multi-purpose; be future-proofed to accommodate growth and change; and be an LEED Silver Facility. 
• Make the facility barrier-free, welcoming, safe and secure. 
• Make the facility inviting and desirable that goes beyond complying with ADA accessibility and makes it easy to visit for eligibility screenings, provide adequate cameras, gates, clearance and enforcement. 
• Strengthen partnerships and build trust. 
• Meet the needs of the community by engaging with end users and being transparent. 
• Create a “model” paratransit facility. 
• Make the facility a signature facility as a new national paratransit standard.  
• Consolidate operations and improve efficiency. 
• Bring the city/county, the call center, administrative and operations under one roof to streamline processes and reduce operational costs and maximize and expand services. 
• Complete the facility on-time and within budget. 
• Utilize early cost estimating and phasing of future plans to ensure project scope, budget and schedule are align with constraints. 
• Employee-focused: find solutions that improve the employee experience and can increase retention.