by Leo Suarez

Public Meeting on Transit in Wake County

This Thursday, March 5 at 6:30-7:30 pm, there will be a public meeting showing the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s transit proposal through 2035. The meeting is at city hall, which is at 222 W. Hargett St. for the clueless.

Click here to view the entire CAMPO plan (pdf) or visit CAMPO’s website.

To sum up the plan, the proposal will involve:

  • Doubling of bus service throughout the county, including express service to several towns beyond Raleigh.
  • Light rail from NW Cary through West Raleigh, NCSU, downtown Raleigh and up to Triangle Town Center

For those freaking out over the snow in the area, remember that light rail can still get you around if Raleigh reaches gridlock status.

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14 Comments

  1. Well, if their plan is to completely leave North Raleigh (one of the largest population centers in the city/county) and the Glenwood corridor out of the plan, and instead to bring light rail all the way out to freaking Apex and Wake Forest, then they have succeeded magnificently.

  2. This region needs to get their heads out of their _ _ _ _ _!

    We have been talking about this for two decades (minimum). Too many morons involved in this process.

  4. To succeed, a well conceived plan needs strong leadership and people who are in sync with the present and future needs of this region. As is, I am not 100% certain this plan will benefit our area, unless there are plans to develop very dense communities around the future stations. North Raleigh is definitely a must and I hope that planners include it in their vision. It is by far the largest section of Raleigh, anyway.

  5. I notice a lot of visceral about this plan…deserveably so. However, rather than JUST vent that visceral on this website, why not show up at the meeting on Thursday? I’d show up, except I’ll be out of town. But these planners need to realize how half conceived their plans are.

  6. No leadership. Wasted time. Hopeless. A starter line should have been up and running 3-5 years ago. This is absolutely ridiculous.

    As for North Raleigh . . . yeah, it’s shortsighted that this doesn’t include NR, but NR is the king of obstructionism, NIMBYism, anti-urban-growthism. Let them have their SUVs and suburbs. Give me my downtown and buses and trains, dammit!!

  7. Ridiculous, I feel your disappointment. Yes, we should have done a better job as a region. Even the RBC Arena was built on speculations that West Raleigh would have bloomed with urbanity, yet the developers failed to deliver on that vision. Likewise, it is hard to build a line on speculations and the existing corridors just don’t have enough density, or good connectivity with the major employment centers.

    Since you mentioned NIMBYs – I am a sworn enemy of theirs – it is the Central Raleigh NIMBYs that present the biggest obstacle, not the SUV-driving suburbanites. Since any light rail line would have to go through central areas of Raleigh, it is the usual suspects around Hillsborough Street, Five Points and Cameron Village that have to be convinced first. If they talk of 5-8 story buildings as if they are skyscrapers, you can imagine how much they would resist a light rail line. Being a North Raleighite, myself, I can assure you that people up there – not in the suburbs – will not resist… Nowhere near as much as the NIMBYs of Central Raleigh.

    There is hope, though, but don’t count North Raleighites out of the equation. Do you know how many of us support Downtown businesses, be that Marbles Museum, or nightlife spots? I can assure you it is many of us. If we urbanize North Raleigh a little, then it is possible that a light rail can successfully be implemented.

  8. I still just don’t get why CAMPO is ignoring an RDU connection. If anything I find RDU more important than Wake Forest (no offense anyone intended). I’m only saying that on the grounds of potential ridership.

  9. In the case of RDU, it is the airport authority that presents the challenge. They have invested heavily on parking space and such loss of income would be a major issue. Maybe a connection between a station the airport would be feasible. Also, I wonder if there are physical challenges in running an efficient line through RDU… I haven’t done much thinking, but I am no engineer, either.

  10. I don’t think there is that much of an issue with running the line to the airport…other cities have done that. It probably more is in line with fighting the airport brass.

  11. If the Airport Authority does not approve of a line to RDU, I will be using Park & Ride or another private company to park my car (will not use the airport parking deck anymore – simple solution – RDU has ALWAYS made it inconvenient for the traveler, especially the home town traveler)

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