Municipography is a summary of current issues going through the Raleigh City Council and other municipal departments in the city. The point is to try to deliver any video, photos, and text associated with the discussions happening at City Hall or elsewhere. Since this is a downtown Raleigh blog, the focus is on the center of the city.
Light Rail Alternative Discussion
The video above is not the entire Monday night public hearing but just the thoughts of each member of the council on the different light rail alternatives said at the end of the meeting. This was then followed by the council decision. Go here for the link to watch the meeting in its entirety.
Monday night’s public hearing about light rail in downtown Raleigh was short and sweet. Opening up the discussion was Triangle Transit with their pitch about light rail and the process they have been going through over the last few years. Next, the Passenger Rail Task Force (PRTF) presented their thoughts about their recommended light rail plan, the D6A plan, to the council and took their questions. Finally, members from the city staff presented their recommendations to the council, that being the D6 plan.
For some background reading, jump back to this post that talks about the two alternatives along with some good discussion afterwards from readers.
Very few citizens spoke after the presentations and afterwards each council member voiced their support for a light rail alternative, shown in the video above.
By a 6-2 vote, the D6 plan is now the city’s locally preferred alternative. The video ends with a nice quote from Mayor Meeker.
Let’s go ahead and get this system built as soon as we can.
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- Municipography, Capital Boulevard and a Transit Tax | November 10, 2021
- Municipography, Light Rail Through Downtown Raleigh | November 10, 2021
- Municipography: Moore Square, Parking and Food Trucks | August 16, 2012
Comments
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So, what’s the next step? Are there going to be a series of locally preferred alternatives or does the fact that the rail is following existing rail lines kinda limit discussion when it comes to where the rail will go from here on out?
And what is the timeframe for this? I feel like it’s got a million hurdles to overcome to allow it to materialize, and I also feel like it’s going to be another 10 years before it does even if everything goes smoothly. It’s kind of hard to get excited about public transport (light rail, commuter rail, high speed rail) when I’m going to be an old man before I can use it.
For the last few months, we have been going over all the different alternatives on the table. Raleigh has now chosen it’s preferred alternative for the downtown portion of the light rail line.
CAMPO, or the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, will now take the locally preferred alternatives into consideration for it to make a decision on the final route. Good chance this D6 plan gets the nod since the city and Triangle Transit prefer it.
From what I understand, after CAMPO decides on the entire light rail line route, the real fun will begin; funding. A source of funding has to be found so that the initial environmental study and impact studies can begin.
After those studies are finished, approved and all that. Design work can begin.
After design, construction bids will go out followed by actual construction leading up to opening day.
Yes, still a lot more steps to go but we are moving forward and Raleigh made a decision on what it wants. The timeframe on it depends on politics and citizen’s willingness to step up and fund it.
D5! Go Bonner Gaylord.
I personally loved the music at the end.