On Thursday, U.S. Congress members Wiley Nickel (D) and Deborah Ross (D) came to town explaining why they need the $78 million for the Garner/Raleigh route to stay in President Joe Biden’s budget.

The Garner to Raleigh route will run along US 401.

It has another year and a half of design work before construction on the final route begins.

It took a CBS 17 crew about 15 minutes to make the route between downtown Raleigh and the proposed station on the route near the Garner Walmart during moderate traffic.

Commuter Isaac Welker says it’s much worse during rush hour.

“To downtown Raleigh it’s difficult especially in the morning,” he said. 

Explosive growth is one of the reasons why. Development is everywhere near the southern leg of the bus transit route.

From buildings under construction to newly established neighborhoods – lots of people are moving into the area and bringing their automobiles.

Census data indicate 95 percent of them use their cars to commute.

The bus rapid transit route would use dedicated lanes and signals to help it cut through the congestion.

CBS 17 asked commuter Rowell Gorman if the project is worth the expense.

“It’s a long-term investment,” he said. 

We wanted to know how solid is that funding promise.

Nickel explained why the $78 million was worth the investment.

“We’ve got a majority in the Senate and we’ve got the White House,” said Nickel. “When we have…a budget that the White House puts out with close to $80 million in it for this specific project, we feel really good about its chances to get it to get passed and to get appropriated.”

Ross promised that the project would be in the federal budget.

“We’re going to be working our senators to make sure that it’s in both the House and Senate budget,” added Ross.

The whole system with additional rapid transit commuter route buses to the north and west will take at least 12 years as this area continues to grow.