Transportation and Transit
Highways and Interstates
Durham County benefits from good highway connectivity with major highways I-40 and I-85 crossing through the County.
Commute Time
The commute time for residents living in Durham is lower than every major metro area in the United States.
AVERAGE COMMUTE TIMES BY METRO AREA (2019)
Commuting Patterns
Durham County is part of the Raleigh-Durham Combined Metro Statistical Area (CMSA) that includes the following 8 counties: Durham, Orange, Wake, Chatham, Granville, Johnston, Person, and Franklin. The addition of nearby Vance County results in a 9-county region that serves as a representative laborshed for Durham County.
The following graphic shows the number of people that a) commute into Durham County for work, b) commute out of Durham County for work and c) both live and work in Durham County. The placement and positioning of the arrows are not a literal reflection of the commuting patterns. About 68% of Durham County jobs are filled by people living outside of the County, which shows that Durham is a major jobs center for the region with good connectivity.
Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU)
Raleigh-Durham International Airport offers 400+ daily flights on ten major airlines to nearly 57 non-stop destinations and 5 international destinations. Nearly 10 million passengers land here annually.
Downtown Durham is a 15-minute drive from RDU (13.5 miles away).
Transit
Transportation is increasingly a competitive advantage in the Research Triangle region, thanks to ongoing, funded investments in multimodal infrastructure and sustained focus by the community to ensure our market’s continued success.
Local public transportation is provided by GoDurham and cross-county regional public transportation is provided by GoTriangle. Dedicated local sales taxes are helping add solutions like bus rapid transit and commuter rail, which are inherently scalable and will be deployed and expanded quickly as the market changes since we have no legacy systems to repair and maintain.
The Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce is an active member of the Regional Transportation Alliance (RTA). The RTA serves as the voice for the business community on regional transportation topics in the Research Triangle region.
