One of those meetings will take place in Knightdale at town hall, 950 Steeple Square Court, on Wednesday, July 14, from 5:30-8 p.m.

The community meeting on the Triangle Regional Transit Program will offer the opportunity for people to meet, share ideas and discuss future bus and rail transit. The meeting follows work by the Special Transit Advisory Commission in 2008 and adoption of the Long Range Transportation Plans by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro MPO in 2009.

The process begins with a survey of existing transportation-related conditions, identifies and confirms transportation needs and defines the goals and objectives against which project alternatives will be evaluated.

Public input and comments at the open house session will be essential to the success of the program. Program team members and community representatives will be available to answer questions and share the latest information.

Follow-up meetings will be held in September and February 2011. Additionally, individual meetings, events, a Web site, newsletters, Facebook and Twitter feeds and other means will be utilized to keep citizens and stakeholders informed about the project's status and to provide an opportunity to raise issues or ask questions prior to the study's completion in Spring 2011.

Following the evaluation of the alternatives and the completion of the alternatives analysis, it is expected that the Capital Area MPO and Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro MPO will approve and select projects to proceed to development of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement. This study will conduct the detailed analysis and evaluation of environmental impacts and formal public participation process required by the National Environmental Policy Act.