Research Triangle | |
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Representations of the Research Triangle (from top to bottom): skyline ofRaleigh, skyline ofDurham, and theOld Well inChapel Hill | |
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Country | ![]() |
State | ![]() |
Largest city | Raleigh |
Other cities | Durham Chapel Hill Cary |
Area | |
• Total | 4,766 sq mi (12,340 km2) |
Population (2020) | |
• Density | 442/sq mi (171/km2) |
• CSA | 2,106,463 (32nd) |
GDP | |
• Raleigh–Durham–Cary (CSA) | $183.624 billion (2022) |
• Raleigh (MSA) | $119.675 billion (2022) |
• Durham-Chapel Hill (MSA) | $63.950 billion (2022) |
Time zone | UTC−5 (EST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
Area code(s) | 919, 984 |
TheResearch Triangle, or simplyThe Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in thePiedmont region of theU.S. state ofNorth Carolina. Anchored by the cities ofRaleigh andDurham and the town ofChapel Hill, the region is home to three major research universities:North Carolina State University,Duke University, and theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, respectively. The "Triangle" name originated in the 1950s with the creation ofResearch Triangle Park located between the three anchor cities, which is the largestresearch park in the United States and home to numeroushigh tech companies.[4]
The nine-county region, officially named theRaleigh–Durham–Cary, NCCombined Statistical Area by theOffice of Management and Budget, comprises theRaleigh–Cary,Durham–Chapel Hill, andHenderson, NCMetropolitan Statistical Areas. The 2020 census put the population of the area at 2,106,463, making it the second-largest combined statistical area in North Carolina, behindCharlotte.[5] The Raleigh–Durham television market includes a broader 24-county area which includesFayetteville, North Carolina, and has a population of 2,726,000 persons.[6] Most of the Triangle is part of North Carolina'sfirst,second,fourth,ninth, andthirteenth congressional districts.[7]
The region is sometimes confused with thePiedmont Triad, which is a North Carolina region adjacent to and directly west of the Triangle comprisingGreensboro,Winston-Salem, andHigh Point, among other cities. Both the Research Triangle and the Piedmont Triad form part of thePiedmont Crescent, a heavily urbanized region of the state that includes the city ofCharlotte.
Depending on which definition of the Research Triangle region is used, as few as three or as many as 16 counties are included as part of the region. The three core counties of Wake, Durham, and Orange are the homes of the three research universities for which the area is named.
As of September 14, 2018, the USOffice of Management and Budget (OMB) delineated the Raleigh-Durham-Cary Combined Statistical Area as consisting of two metropolitan and one micropolitan statistical areas.[8] Those three statistical areas in turn are defined as consisting of a total of nine counties. The MSAs and their constituent counties are:
Prior to September 2018, the OMB had used the name Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Combined Statistical Area and it included several additional counties.[9] The Dunn Micropolitan Statistical Area (Harnett County) and Sanford Micropolitan Statistical Area (Lee County) were moved to the Fayetteville-Sanford-Lumberton Combined Statistical Area, while the Oxford Micropolitan Statistical Area (Granville County) was folded into the Durham-Chapel Hill Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Raleigh Metropolitan Statistical Area was also renamed the Raleigh-Cary Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The table below outlines the populations of the constituent counties of the Raleigh–Durham-Cary Combined Statistical Area as of the 2020 Census.[10]
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
1950 | 483,418 | — | |
1960 | 534,029 | 10.5% | |
1970 | 628,319 | 17.7% | |
1980 | 765,191 | 21.8% | |
1990 | 962,962 | 25.8% | |
2000 | 1,315,016 | 36.6% | |
2010 | 1,740,185 | 32.3% | |
2020 | 2,106,463 | 21.0% | |
2020[11] |
County | 2023 Estimate | 2020 Census | Change |
---|---|---|---|
Wake County | 1,190,275 | 1,129,410 | +5.39% |
Durham County | 336,892 | 324,833 | +3.71% |
Johnston County | 241,955 | 215,999 | +12.02% |
Orange County | 150,626 | 148,696 | +1.30% |
Chatham County | 81,624 | 76,285 | +7.00% |
Franklin County | 77,001 | 68,573 | +12.29% |
Granville County | 62,192 | 60,992 | +1.97% |
Vance County | 42,301 | 42,578 | −0.65% |
Person County | 39,737 | 39,097 | +1.64% |
Total | 2,222,603 | 2,106,463 | +5.51% |
The members of the Research Triangle Regional Partnership are:[12]
All counties in North Carolina are in one of 16 regional councils which provide programs and services to local governments. The Triangle J Council of Governments includes Chatham, Durham, Johnston, Lee, Moore, Orange, and Wake Counties.[13] The northern Triangle counties of Person, Granville, Franklin, Vance, and Warren are part of the Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments.
The Triangle region, as defined for statistical purposes as theRaleigh–Durham–Cary CSA, comprises nine counties, although theU.S. Census Bureau divided the region into two metropolitan statistical areas and one micropolitan area in 2003. The Raleigh-Cary metropolitan area comprises Wake, Franklin, and Johnston Counties; the Durham-Chapel Hill metropolitan area comprises Durham, Orange, Chatham, Granville, and Person Counties; and the Henderson micropolitan area comprises Vance County.
Some area television stations define the region asRaleigh–Durham–Fayetteville. Fayetteville is more than 50 miles (80 km) from Raleigh, but is part of the Triangletelevision market.
Rank | City / town | County | 2020 Census | 2010 Census | Change |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Raleigh | Wake County /Durham County | 467,665 | 403,892 | +15.79% |
2 | Durham | Durham County /Wake County | 283,506 | 228,330 | +24.17% |
3 | Cary | Wake County /Chatham County | 174,721 | 135,234 | +29.20% |
4 | Chapel Hill | Orange County /Durham County /Chatham County | 61,960 | 57,233 | +8.26% |
5 | Apex | Wake County | 58,780 | 37,476 | +56.85% |
6 | Wake Forest | Wake County /Franklin County | 47,601 | 30,117 | +58.05% |
7 | Holly Springs | Wake County | 41,239 | 24,661 | +67.22% |
8 | Fuquay-Varina | Wake County | 34,152 | 17,937 | +90.40% |
9 | Garner | Wake County | 31,159 | 25,745 | +21.03% |
10 | Morrisville | Wake County /Durham County | 29,630 | 18,576 | +59.51% |
11 | Clayton | Johnston County /Wake County | 26,307 | 16,116 | +63.24% |
12 | Carrboro | Orange County | 21,295 | 19,582 | +8.75% |
13 | Knightdale | Wake County | 19,632 | 11,401 | +72.20% |
14 | Mebane | Alamance County /Orange County | 17,797 | 11,393 | +56.21% |
15 | Henderson | Vance County | 15,060 | 15,368 | −2.00% |
Public secondary education in the Triangle is similar to that of the majority of the state of North Carolina, in which there are county-wide school systems (the exception isChapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools within Orange County but apart from Orange County Schools). Based in Cary, theWake County Public School System, which includes the cities of Raleigh and Cary, is the largest school system in the state of North Carolina and the 15th-largest in the United States, with average daily enrollment of 159,949 as of the second month of the 2016–17 school year.[14] Other larger systems in the region include Durham Public Schools (about 33,000 students) and rapidly growing Johnston County Schools (about 31,000 students).
With the significant number of universities and colleges in the area and the relative absence of major league professional sports,NCAA sports are very popular, particularly those sports in which theAtlantic Coast Conference participates, most notably basketball.
TheDuke Blue Devils (representingDuke University in Durham),NC State Wolfpack (representingNorth Carolina State University in Raleigh), andNorth Carolina Tar Heels (representing theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) are all members of theACC. Rivalries among these schools are very strong, fueled by proximity to each other, with annual competitions in every sport. Adding to the rivalries is the large number of graduates the high schools in the region send to each of the local universities. It is very common for students at one university to know many students attending the other local universities, which increases the opportunities for "bragging" among the schools. The four ACC schools in the state, Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State, andWake Forest University (the last of which was originally located in the town of Wake Forest before moving to Winston-Salem in 1956), are referred to asTobacco Road by sportscasters, particularly in basketball. All four teams consistently produce high-caliber teams[opinion]. Each of the Triangle-based universities listed has won at least two NCAA Basketball national championships.
Threehistorically black colleges, including recent Division I arrivalNorth Carolina Central University and Division II membersSt. Augustine College andShaw University also boost the popularity of college sports in the region.
Other colleges in the Triangle that field intercollegiate teams includeCampbell University,Meredith College, andWilliam Peace University.
The Triangle will host theWorld University Summer Games in 2029.
The region has only one professional team of thefour major sports, theCarolina Hurricanes of theNational Hockey League, based in Raleigh. Since moving to the Research Triangle region fromHartford, Connecticut, they have enjoyed great success, including winning aStanley Cup. TheNorth Carolina Courage began play in theNational Women's Soccer League in 2017 after the owner of North Carolina FC bought the NWSL franchise rights of theWestern New York Flash and relocated the NWSL franchise to the Triangle. The team has achieved broad success in the league, winning 2 NWSL championships and 3 NWSL Shields in the first five years in the Triangle. With limited top-level professional sports option, minor league sports are quite popular in the region. TheDurham Bulls in downtown Durham are a AAA Minor League baseball affiliate of theTampa Bay Rays, and theCarolina Mudcats, based in Zebulon, are the Advanced-A affiliate of theMilwaukee Brewers. In Cary,North Carolina FC plays in the second-tierUSL Championship
Team | League | Sport | Venue (capacity) |
---|---|---|---|
Carolina Hurricanes | NHL | Hockey | Lenovo Center (18,680) |
Durham Bulls | IL (AAA) | Baseball | DBAP (10,000) |
Carolina Mudcats | CL (A) | Baseball | Five County Stadium (6,500) |
North Carolina Courage | NWSL (D1) | Soccer | WakeMed Soccer Park (10,000) |
North Carolina FC | USLC (D2) | Soccer | WakeMed Soccer Park (10,000) |
Carolina Flyers | AUDL | Ultimate | WakeMed Soccer Park (10,000) /Cardinal Gibbons High School |
The area also had a team in the fledglingWorld League of American Football – however, theRaleigh–Durham Skyhawks, coached byRoman Gabriel, did not exactly cover themselves in glory; they lost all 10 games of their inaugural (and only) season in 1991. The team folded after that, being replaced in the league by theOhio Glory, which fared little better at 1–9, ultimately suffering the same fate – along with the other six teams based in North America – when the league took a two-year hiatus, returning as a six-team all-European league in 1995. TheOrange County Speedway inRougemont hostsstock car racing events including thePro All Stars Series, theCARS Super Late Model Tour and the CARS Late Model Stock Tour.
The region's growing high-technology community includes such companies asIBM,Lenovo,SAS Institute,Cisco Systems,NetApp,Red Hat,EMC Corporation, andCredit Suisse First Boston. In addition to high-tech, the region is consistently ranked in the top three in the U.S. with concentration in life science companies. Some of these companies includeGlaxoSmithKline,Biogen Idec,BASF,Merck & Co.,Novo Nordisk,Novozymes, andPfizer.Research Triangle Park andNorth Carolina State University's Centennial Campus in Raleigh support innovation through R&D and technology transfer among the region's companies and research universities (including Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).
The area fared relatively well during thelate-2000s recession, ranked as the strongest region in North Carolina by theBrookings Institution and among the top 40 in the country. The change in unemployment during 2008 to 2009 was 4.6% and home prices was 2%. TheGreensboro metropolitan area was listed among the second-weakest and theCharlotte area among the middle in the country.[15]
The Research Triangle region is served by these hospitals and medical centers:[16]
The Triangle proper is served by four majorinterstate highways:I-40,I-42,I-85, andI-87 along with theirspurs:I-885,I-440, andI-540, and sevenU.S. Routes:1,15,64,70,264,401, and501. US Highways 15 and 501 are multiplexed through much of the region asUS 15-501.I-95 passes 30 miles east of Raleigh through Johnston County, with I-87 connecting I-95 atRocky Mount, NC to Raleigh via theUS 64–264 Bypass.
The two interstates diverge from one another in Orange County, with I-85 heading northeast through northern Durham County towardVirginia, whileI-40 travels southeast through southern Durham, through the center of the region, and serves as the primary freeway through Raleigh. The related loop freeways I-440 and I-540 are primarily located in Wake County around Raleigh. I-440 begins at the interchange of US 1 and I-40 southwest of downtown Raleigh and arcs as a multiplex with US 1 northward around downtown with the formal designation as the Cliff Benson/Raleigh Beltline (cosigned with US 1 on three-fourths of its northern route) and ends at its junction with I-40 in southeast Raleigh. I-540, sometimes known as the Raleigh Outer Loop, extends from theUS 64–264 Bypass to I-40 just inside Durham County, where it continues across the interstate as astate route (NC 540), prior to it becoming atoll road from the NC 54 interchange to the current terminus at I-40 and I-42 near Garner. I-95 serves the extreme eastern edge of the region, crossing north–south through suburban Johnston County.
U.S. Routes 1, 15, and 64 primarily serve the region as limited-access freeways or multilane highways withaccess roads. US 1 enters the region from the southwest as the Claude E. Pope Memorial Highway and travels through suburban Apex where it merges with US 64 and continues northeast through Cary. The two highways are codesignated for about 2 miles (3.2 km) until US 1 joins I-440 and US 64 with I-40 along the Raleigh–Cary border. Capital Boulevard, which is designated US 1 for half of its route and US 401 the other is not a limited-access freeway, although it is a major thoroughfare through northeast Raleigh and into the northern downtown area.
North Carolina Highway 147 is a limited-access freeway that connects I-85 with Toll Route NC 540 in northwestern Wake County. The older, toll-free portion of the four-lane route—known as the Durham Freeway or the I.L. "Buck" Dean Expressway—traverses downtown Durham and extends through Research Triangle Park to I-40. The Durham Freeway is often used as a detour or alternate route for I-40 through southwestern Durham the Chapel Hill area in cases of traffic accident, congestion or road construction delays. The tolled portion of NC 147, called the Triangle Expressway—North Carolina's first modern toll road when it opened to traffic in late 2011—continues past I-40 to Toll NC 540. Both Toll NC 147 and Toll NC 540 are modern facilities which collect tolls using transponders and license plate photo-capture technology.
A partnering system of multiple public transportation agencies currently serves the Triangle region under the jointGoTriangle branding. Raleigh is served byGoRaleigh (formerly Capital Area Transit) municipal transit system, while Durham hasGoDurham (formerly the Durham Area Transit Authority). Chapel Hill is served byChapel Hill Transit, and Cary is served byGoCary (formerly C-Tran) public transit systems. However, GoTriangle, formerly called Triangle Transit, works in cooperation with all area transit systems by offering transfers between its own routes and those of the other systems. Triangle Transit also coordinates an extensivevanpool andrideshare program that serves the region's larger employers and commute destinations.
Plans have been made to merge all of the area's municipal systems into GoTriangle, and GoTriangle also has proposed a regional rail system to connect downtown Durham, downtown Cary and downtown Raleigh with multiple suburban stops, as well as stops in the Research Triangle Park area. The agency's initial proposal was effectively cancelled in 2006, however, when the agency could not procure adequate federal funding. A committee of local business, transportation and government leaders currently are working with GoTriangle to develop a new transit blueprint for the region, with various modes of rail transit, as well asbus rapid transit, open as options for consideration.[17]
(IATA:RDU,ICAO:KRDU,FAALID:RDU)
Raleigh–Durham International Airport (RDU) has nonstop passenger service to 68 destinations with over 450 average daily departures, including nonstop international service to Canada, Europe, and Mexico.[18] It is located near the geographic center of The Triangle,4+1⁄2 miles (7.2 km) northeast of the town ofMorrisville inWake County. The airport covers 5,000 acres (2,023 ha) and has threerunways.[19]
In 1939 the General Assembly of North Carolina chartered the Raleigh–Durham Aeronautical Authority, which was changed in 1945 to the Raleigh–Durham Airport Authority. The first new terminal opened in 1955. Terminal A (now Terminal 1) opened in 1981.American Airlines began service to RDU in 1985.
RDU opened the 10,000-foot (3,000 m) runway, 5L-23R, in 1986. American Airlines opened its north–south hub operation at RDU in the new Terminal C in June 1987, greatly increasing the size of RDU's operations with a new terminal including a new apron and runway. American brought RDU its first international flights toBermuda,Cancun,Paris andLondon.
In 1996, American Airlines ceased its hub operations at RDU due toPan Am andEastern Airlines. Pan Am and Eastern wereMiami's main tenants until 1991, when both carriers went bankrupt. Their hubs at MIA were taken over byUnited Airlines and American Airlines. This created a difficulty in competing withUS Airways' hub inCharlotte andDelta Air Lines' hub in Atlanta, Georgia for passengers traveling between smaller cities in the North and South.Midway Airlines entered the market, starting service in 1995 with the then somewhat novel concept of 50-seatCanadair Regional Jets providing service from its RDU hub primarily along the East Coast. Midway, originally incorporated inChicago, had some success after moving its operations to the midpoint of the eastern United States at RDU and its headquarters to Morrisville, NC. The carrier ultimately could not overcome three weighty challenges: the arrival ofSouthwest Airlines, the refusal of American Airlines to renew the frequent flyer affiliation it had with Midway (thus dispatching numerous higher fare-paying businesspeople to airlines with better reward destinations), and the significant blow of September 11, 2001. Midway Airlines filedChapter 11 bankruptcy on August 13, 2001, and ceased operations entirely on October 30, 2003.
In February 2000, RDU was ranked as the nation's second fastest-growing major airport in the United States, by Airports Council International, based on 1999 statistics. Passenger growth hit 24% over the previous year, ranking RDU second only toWashington Dulles International Airport. RDU opened Terminal A south concourse for use byNorthwest andContinental Airlines in 2001. The addition added 46,000 square feet (4,300 m2) and five aircraft gates to the terminal. Terminal A became designated as Terminal 1 on October 26, 2008. In 2003, RDU also dedicated a new general aviation terminal. RDU continues to keep pace with its growth by redeveloping Terminal C into a new state-of-the-art terminal, now known as Terminal 2, which opened in October 2008.[20]
As of June 2022, the airport will have international flights to Cancun, London, Montreal, Paris, Reykjavik and Toronto. Cancun and London service is provided by American, Frontier and JetBlue, while the Canada flights are provided by Air Canada, Paris by Delta, and Reykjavik by Icelandair. Icelandair is the first international carrier outside of Air Canada to service the airport. Delta Air Lines currently considers the airport to be a "focus city", or an airport that is not a hub, but is of importance to the carrier. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly shrunk the operation, but by September 2022, Delta will be serving 21 destinations on aircraft ranging from the CRJ700 to the 767.
In addition to RDU, several smaller publicly ownedgeneral-aviation airports also operate in the metropolitan region:
Several licensed privategeneral-aviation and agricultural airfields are located in the region's suburban areas and nearby rural communities:
These licensedheliports serve the Research Triangle region:
A number ofhelipads (i.e. marked landing sites not classified under theFAALID system) also serve a variety of additional medical facilities (such as UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill), as well as private, corporate and governmental interests, throughout the region.
Amtrak serves the region with theSilver Meteor,Silver Star,Palmetto,Carolinian, andPiedmont routes.
Station\Route | Silver Meteor | Silver Star | Palmetto | Carolinian | Piedmont |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Selma (SSM) | X | X | |||
Fayetteville (FAY) | X | X | |||
Southern Pines (SOP) | X | ||||
Raleigh (RGH) | X | X | X | ||
Cary (CYN) | X | X | X | ||
Durham (DNC) | X | X |
Film festivals and events:
Notable performing arts and music venues:
Theatre and dance events:
Music festivals:
Movie theatres:
The area is part of the Raleigh–Durham–Fayetteville televisiondesignated media area and is the 25th-largest in the country with 1,135,920 households (2014) included in that area and the second largest television market in North Carolina.[21] It is part of the Raleigh–DurhamNielsen Audio radio market (code 115) and is the 42nd-largest in the country with a population of 1,365,900.[22]
The Raleigh–Durham–Fayetteville market is defined by Nielsen as including Chatham, Cumberland, Dunn, Durham, Granville, Halifax, Harnett, Hoke, Johnston, Lee, Moore, Northampton, Orange, Robeson, Vance, Wake, Warren,Wayne, and Wilson Counties, along with parts of Franklin County.[23]
Numerous newspapers and periodicals serve the Triangle market.
The Triangle is part of the Raleigh–Durham–Fayetteville Designated Market Area for broadcast television. As of 2015[update]–16, the area was the 25th-largest in the country. This area includes these television stations:
Raleigh is home to the Research Triangle Region bureau of the regionalcable TV news channelSpectrum News 1 North Carolina.
The Triangle is home toNorth Carolina Public Radio, a public radio station/NPR provider that brings in listeners around the country. Raleigh and a large part of the Triangle area is Arbitron radio market #43. Stations include:
FM stations:
| AM stations:
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Primary cities and towns A – Raleigh | Counties 1 – Wake County Parks and bodies of water a –Research Triangle Park | Interstate highways 1 – I-40/I-85 Other major highways 1 –US 15 |
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