Category / Planning DT Raleigh

by Leo Suarez

Municipography, Capital Boulevard, New Convention Hotel, and The Comprehensive Plan Update

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.

Email readers, this post contains embedded video which you may not see in your inbox. I recommend jumping to the blog to see all the content.

Last week at the Raleigh City Council meeting, a few projects we’ve discussed on the blog were presented and discussed. The council approved the sale of the city-owned lot on Salisbury Street, known as “Site 4”, to Summit Hospitality Group, Ltd who plans to build a hotel. The plans for the new Capital Boulevard bridge over Peace Street were also discussed as construction on that project is planned for Summer 2016. Finally, an update on the 2030 Comprehensive Plan was given by the planning department.

Residence Inn on Salisbury Street

See Raleigh City Council – 2-18-14 – City of Raleigh and Summit Hospitality Group on YouTube.

In short, the council approved the sale of Site 4 to Summit Hospitality Group, Ltd to build a Residence Inn hotel. This sale was recommended by the Budget and Economic Development Committee last month and now makes it final.

From the city’s press release:

Following a Feb. 18 Public Hearing, the Raleigh City Council approved the sale of .52 acres on South Salisbury Street, between South Street and Lenoir Street, to Raleigh-based Summit Hospitality Group, Ltd. Approval of the $1.73 million deal will result in the construction of an 11-story Marriott Residence Inn with 140 to 154 additional rooms within walking distance of the Raleigh Convention Center. The site is also known as Site 4 and is considered to be “one of the most important infill sites within the Convention and Cultural District” in the City’s South End Master Plan.

*Sale of Downtown Site Approved

For more details on this project, jump to a recent post with all the details.

Capital Boulevard Bridge

See Raleigh City Council – 2-18-14 – NCDOT Capital Boulevard Bridge Replacement Projects on YouTube.

The Capital Boulevard bridge over Peace Street is slated for replacement in the next few years and designs have been in the works for quite awhile. The latest on this topic is covered in good detail in the post linked below, including some excellent conversation by readers.

Between the “base” alternative (cheaper) and the “enhanced” alternative (costlier) this is where the city has to step up. There is strong public support for the enhanced alternative but the feds only have enough money for the base alternative.

According to the presentation, in May 2014 an alternative will be chosen with construction planned for Summer of 2016.

From the city’s press release:

Each bridge is proposed for replacement under the Federal Highway Administration’s bridge replacement program. City staff has coordinated the replacement of these bridges with NCDOT to be consistent with the City’s adopted Capital Boulevard Corridor Plan. In each case, NCDOT has developed base alternatives that rebuild each interchange following the existing configuration, and enhanced alternatives that more closely follow the City’s corridor plan recommendations. In order to pursue the enhanced alternatives at either location, the City would be required to pay for the difference in cost above each base alternative.

*Council Reviews Alternatives for Capital Boulevard Bridge Replacement Projects

2030 Comprehensive Plan Update

See Raleigh City Council – 2-28-14 – 2030 Comprehensive Plan – January 2014 Progress Report on YouTube.

The 2014 Progress Report was presented to council and can be found on the city’s website. Some highlights from the presentation:

  • Our city’s comprehensive plan continues to be a national model for city planning.
  • Updates are meant to keep the plan up-to-date with emerging trends and any city restructuring.
  • Of the total 465 action items since adoption, 61 have been completed and now removed, 275 are in progress and 50 have still not been started.

The newest emerging trends that city staff will be studying are:

  • Community Resiliency – planning for extreme weather and emergencies and how the city continues to be responsive and can recover.
  • Innovation Districts – how to foster new growth nodes around unique ideas and innovation.
  • Autonomous Vehicles – how to plan for the upcoming use of self-driving cars and taxis.
  • Sharing Economy – services like bike share, car share, self-rental properties are a future trend. Examples include Airbnb, ZipCar, and B-Cycle.

by Leo Suarez

Market and Exchange Plaza Schematics, We Dive Into The Specs

Exchange Plaza

Exchange Plaza

Last month, the city had a public meeting at the Raleigh City Museum and showed off more firm plans for the remake of Exchange and Market Plaza. This is a project that coincides with the renovation of 227 Fayetteville Street, announced almost a year ago. First, background reading if you need it:

*Innovate Raleigh Opens Up 227 Fayetteville Street, Renovations Underway – January 25, 2013.

In addition to the work being done at 227, the plazas to the north, Exchange Plaza, and south, Market Plaza, of the building are getting a refresh. Here are the plazas in Google Maps.

Market and Exchange Plazas - Google Maps

Market and Exchange Plazas – Google Maps

Market and Exchange plazas still have the look of when Fayetteville Street was closed to traffic and was a walkable mall from the 1970s to the early 2000s. Any new readers should know that the current design of Fayetteville Street was implemented in the mid-2000s and ended the era of the Fayetteville Street Mall. However, the same planters, benches, and pavers still exist on these two plazas from that mall time period.

Market Plaza

Market Plaza

This year, we expect construction to start on the remake of the two plazas. There’s more information about the entire project on the city’s website.

Here’s my attempt to break down the latest information.

Overview
Like I’ve mentioned before, the two plazas are around the currently under renovation 227 Fayetteville building and the new designs attempt to both compliment the adjacent buildings and bring unique public space to downtown Raleigh. There are plans for outdoor seating for nearby restaurants as well as public seating similar to what City Plaza currently has.

Overview map of Market and Exchange Plaza

Overview map of Market and Exchange Plaza. Click for larger.

Visibility was a key focus here. The plaza designs attempt to trim back some of the greenery in order to give pedestrians a deep line of sight through the spaces. Adding extensive but tasteful lighting will hopefully make the spaces feel comfortable and friendly during nighttime use.

Programming was also considered. There are plans for how to fit different sized tents on the plazas for small events. The next Beerfest won’t be setting up here but smaller arts, maybe First Friday gatherings, would be more appropriate.

Sketch of Market and Exchange Plazas with 227 Fayetteville Street

Click for larger.

One important obstacle that I thought was interesting was the need to protect the 227 basement. If you look at the sketch above, you can see how the basement protrudes a few feet underneath both Exchange and Market Plazas. A heavy car or truck can’t set up on top of that so the design has to prevent that.

Exchange Plaza
The new Exchange Plaza will be more about walking and seating rather than events. The space is somewhat divided with a low wall for impromptu sitting as well as comfortable separation between the retail seating, that of current restaurant Bolt, and public space near 227 Fayetteville.

Here are some renderings for the possible future of Exchange Plaza.

Rendering of Exchange Plaza

Rendering of Exchange Plaza

Rendering of Exchange Plaza

Rendering of Exchange Plaza

Only two trees are planned for the plaza. This is to help with that visibility factor, to allow pedestrians to see all the way through the plaza and feel welcomed to walk through it. The area around the tree roots would be appropriately landscaped.

The planters you see, on the right of the first two images, would not be permanent and can be moved if this space fits the need for some small event. Outside of events, the planters will accompany seats and tables, the same ones on City Plaza, for downtowners to enjoy.

Lighting would consist of overhead bulbs in a grid-like pattern. There was indication that special care would be taken into the lighting to make sure it wasn’t overpowering but at the same time bright enough to make the area feel safe.

Market Plaza
Market Plaza, true to its name, offers more of an opportunity for events. In my opinion, there’s a bit less desire here to stop and hang out but walking through looks like it’ll be a nice experience.

The renderings.

Rendering of Market Plaza

Rendering of Market Plaza

Rendering of Market Plaza

Rendering of Market Plaza

Rendering of Market Plaza

The new plaza is more uniformly shaped with a more defined public space compared to Exchange Plaza. This allows for more flexibility and physical space for event setups. It’s almost as if the new plaza is built for walking down a market with vendors set up on your left and right.

The plaza is planned to have a few shelters, a bad comparison would be something similar to a bus shelter, offering pedestrians something comfortable to gravitate too. The same public seats and tables would be scattered around the 227 side of Market Plaza as well.

One compromise here is with the electrical boxes that are placed closer to the Fayetteville Street side of Market Plaza. It was deemed too costly to move or bury them so this piece of infrastructure stays and will be hidden in a creative way. You can see how one rendering proposes projecting some video onto the wall of First Citizens Bank from that piece of utility.

The lighting would be similar to what was proposed at Exchange Plaza.

Wrapping Up
I’ll admit my first reaction to the plans are of enthusiasm as any decent plan to activate the plazas is better than what we have there currently. I’m a little skeptical on how the plazas will function during events. Market Plaza seems like it has a better chance and I don’t see much happening at Exchange Plaza when it comes to proper programming.

Still, events are not the only thing that happen in a downtown and I think these spaces only enrich urban Raleigh. They help set the stage for random encounters, those serendipitous moments between pedestrians, that can’t happen anywhere else in the city. It’s fitting to create these spaces around 227 Fayetteville, a building that will host entrepreneurs and people that believe in that kind of urban business ecosystem.

This project’s timeline has construction planned for late Summer 2014 and completion in Spring 2015.

by Leo Suarez

Weekend Listen: City Planning In One Of The Fastest-Growing U.S. Cities

Listen to an interview of Raleigh’s Chief Planning Director, Mitchell Silver on our growth and how to handle it. If the embedded audio doesn’t show for you, click here.

With a quarter-century of experience, Silver is well-placed for this job. Since 2005, he has been working to turn Raleigh into a world-class city with a modern transit system and livable neighborhoods. He says the biggest challenge is adapting his planning to the city’s growth.

*City Planning In One Of The Fastest-Growing U.S. Cities via Here and Now.

by Leo Suarez

2013 Best of The Blog, Best of the Downtown

Raleigh Skyline in March 2013

As 2013 wraps up, there were plenty of things to look back on. Instead of the typical ‘Year in Review’ post, I’ve listed the five most visited 2013 articles. A lot of these we’ll be tracking in the new year so expect to hear more soon. Here’s the list.

#5 Trophy and Crank Arm Bring New Breweries To Downtown Raleigh
Trophy Brewing Company Growler
Raleighites like their beer. In 2013, downtown Raleigh saw two great additions in Trophy Brewing and Crank Arm Brewing. Throughout the year, the two places have come alive and expanded. There was a lot of buzz about these places and if you’ve gone all year without tasting these brews, you’ve got a few days to get one or two in before 2014.

#4 Parklets Could be Popping Up In Downtown Raleigh
Divisadero Parklet - SF Pavement to Parks

Divisadero Parklet – SF Pavement to Parks by jeremyashaw, on Flickr

Approved in November, the parklets pilot program could help businesses bring new urban “mini” parks to downtown Raleigh. Targeting “underutilized parking spaces,” the program attempts to help bring this new, innovative concept to Raleigh.

As of today, there hasn’t been one built yet so here’s hoping that some pop up in time for Spring 2014.

#3 The Lincoln Will Bring 224 Apartments To Emo Raleigh
The bulk of the apartment boom is happening within and to the west of downtown Raleigh but The Lincoln defies that trend. East Raleigh is ripe for new developments and The Lincoln may start a new trend as it sits one block to the east of Moore Square.

#2 Innovate Raleigh Opens Up 227 Fayetteville Street, Renovations Underway
227 Fayetteville Street, January 2013
Announced in January, 227 Fayetteville Street has been under renovation all year. Paired with a makeover for adjacent Exchange and Market plazas, this section of the 200 block of Fayetteville Street should be even more active when this project is open.

This area already sees the highest pedestrian counts in downtown Raleigh and is starting to be the natural activity hub for all that is urban Raleigh.

#1 Edison Office Shows Site Plan For 225′ Tower
Edison block conceptual drawing by JDavis Architects.

Edison block conceptual drawing by JDavis Architects.

The most viewed post of the year was this one about the upcoming Edison Office tower at the corner of Martin and Wilmington Streets. Gaining attention under the entire Edison project umbrella, the office component is still in the planning phases while next door a 23-story apartment tower, Skyhouse Raleigh, is currently under construction.

The Edison project includes this entire block, with buildings wrapping the mid-block parking deck. It clearly has a lot of buzz around it as a 2012 article about Skyhouse still gets hits constantly from readers.

by Leo Suarez

New Capital Boulevard Designs Out, Status Quo versus New Connections

Peace Street at Capital Boulevard

Cyclists ride under the Capital Boulevard bridge at Peace Street

Last night, NCDOT were showing off proposed design alternatives of the upcoming bridge replacements for Capital Boulevard at Peace Street and Wade Avenue. This is an upcoming project that comes out of the need to replace these approximately 50-year-old bridges before they become functionally unsafe. There are plans for two different alternatives for each bridge and I wanted to go over the bridge designs at the Capital and Peace intersection.

The two alternatives are being referred to as Alternative P-Base and Alternative P5. In my opinion, you have the status quo in the P-Base alternative and a new design in P5. However, as is to be expected the P-Base plan is the cheaper of the two. Let’s get in to each before comparing the two against each other.

Alternative P-Base

Alternative P-Base for the new Capital Boulevard bridge over Peace Street. Click for larger.

Like I stated earlier, the P-Base plan seems to have the least impact to the area and delivers a new bridge with the same street design around it. Entering and exiting Capital Boulevard from Peace Street is almost the same as today.

There are a few enhancements here that will help vehicles turn. The northbound entrance ramp to Capital from Peace would be two lanes wide, the right-most lane being a turn lane for the Cotton Mill parking lot. Also, when exiting downtown on Capital heading north, a right-most fourth lane will pop-out and feed the exit onto Peace Street. The same principals are there for exits and entrances on southbound Capital, where a fourth lane exists for merging compared to the abrupt turn lane that’s there now.

It also looks like the entrance to the small row of shops (Jersey Mike’s, Dry Clean City, etc.) will not have that little driveway onto the northbound Capital ramp.

Alternative P5

Alternative P5 for the new Capital Boulevard bridge over Peace Street. Click for larger.

P5 has a lot more going on around the same new bridge that will be built. Capital Boulevard entrances and exits have been moved and will result in a new traffic pattern. Before we go over these, it’s important to show the new street connections that are proposed.

Harrington Street would play a much bigger role in the P5 plan. Here, Harrington would kind of “punch” through and connect to Peace Street, accomplished through the use of property acquisition. This would create a brand new, signalized intersection.

Nearby along southbound Capital, the parallel service street, intersecting Johnson Street to the north, would be redone as well. Rather than an awkward turn off Capital, you could now make a right turn, with a dedicated turn lane, onto a connecting Johnson Street. This then drops you off at Johnson and Harrington and off into Glenwood South.

Along northbound Capital, new to any proposed design yet, is a longer off-ramp with driveways to Johnson Street to the south of Peace and a turn lane to the Cotton Mill on the north. This off-ramp will create another signalized intersection at Peace Street.

So with these additions, there are some things that are removed. Gone are the “cloverleaf” style on/off ramps at Capital on to Peace. With the addition of the Johnson Street connection and Harrington Street extension, traffic should flow through here in its place.

Matching Them Up

The two plans don’t share much but walkers and cyclists get a win with both. Peace Street will get 5-foot bike lanes and what looks like wider sidewalks, which are desperately needed as nature is reclaiming the current pedestrian paths on the south side.

A minor detail that I thought was important is that both plans call for 11-foot lanes on Capital Boulevard. This actually contradicts the Capital Boulevard Corridor Study’s “Happy Motoring” section stating that 12-foot lanes were something to work towards. I believe that increasing those lane widths would have created faster speeds, more vehicles, and more traffic along Peace Street. I commented in support of the 11-foot lanes for either plan as it compliments an urban area better.

Cost of the two plans is drastically different. According to last night’s handout:

  • P-Base – $26.4 Million
  • P5 – $37.4 Million

That’s an $11 million dollar difference. The bulk of the reason comes from the property acquisition involved in each alternative, 5 versus 12 properties in the area.

Overall, I left comments in support of the P5 alternative. Simply put, this area is pretty much a place to get through and not stop in. We already know that delivering the same thing will most likely produce little new results so we almost owe it ourselves to find that $11 million and try something new.

I feel the P5 alternative slows traffic down and starts to transition the area towards one with better urban form. I’m a huge fan of a grid-like street network and this alternative creates that in the new connection at Johnson Street and the Harrington Street extension. If we can add in on-street parking along these areas, interest in new development could increase. It can’t get any lower as the area only consists of sprawl-like, one-story buildings with surface parking.

NCDOT is taking input on the alternatives over the next few weeks. Here’s the project page on the NCDOT website with contact information so you can submit your thoughts.

The handout also gave us a project timeline.

  • Winter 2013 – Environmental Assessment
  • Spring 2014 – Public Hearing
  • Fall 2014 – Final Environmental Document
  • Fiscal Year 2015* – Begin Right of Way Acquisition
  • Fiscal Year 2016* – Begin Construction

[UPDATE: 11-21-13]
I’ve added the cross section of Peace Street which shows the 5-foot bike lanes on each side of the street. The cross section is pretty much the same between the two alternatives. Click for a larger view.

by Leo Suarez

Upcoming NCDOT Public Meeting To Show Off Latest Peace Street, Capital Boulevard Bridge Designs

Peace Street at Capital Boulevard

Capital Boulevard bridge over Peace Street

It’s been almost a year and a half since there’s been any major news on the re-design for the area around the Capital Boulevard bridge that goes over Peace Street. On November 19, the NCDOT wants to show off the latest designs for that area.

Public Meeting for the proposed replacement of the Capital Boulevard bridges

Date/Time: Tues., Nov. 19 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. (Open House)
Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Meymandi Hall Lobby
2 East South Street, Raleigh

This project comes up because the current bridge is nearing the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced before safety is put at risk. The city is working with the state to find a working solution and this project falls inline with the Capital Boulevard Corridor Study, a much greater strategy to re-invigorate the entire corridor from downtown Raleigh up to I-440.

Project website: Peace St. /Wade Ave. Bridge Replacements on Capital Blvd.

We’ll see what is shown at the meeting and the public can certainly comment on the new designs as we’re still in the planning phases.

On a related note, a friend of mine shared an interesting article with me where a similar bridge replacement was done up in New York state on I-84. Watch the video (shown below or in the linked article) and read about the technique called accelerated bridge construction. Makes you curious as to why this couldn’t be done here at Capital and Peace to save a little money. (and upsetting nearby businesses)

This Ingenious Way to Build Bridges Will Fix Our Crumbling Infrastructure via Wired.com

by Leo Suarez

Upcoming Urban Design Center Education Forums

The Raleigh Urban Design Center has a new schedule of urban-related lecture forums and they stick with the theme of, “Raleigh 2025 – What’s Downtown Got To Do With It?” Last season, there were some pretty good ones related to bike sharing, downtown living, and open space. Here are some that you can watch again.

Lecture Forums

Urban Design Center
220 Fayetteville Street
12 Noon – 1:30 pm

While adding these events to my calendar, I decided to tweak them so I could share them with readers. Here are the XML, iCal, and HTML links for sharing. Hopefully they work with your personal calendars.

The events are all free and take place during weekday lunch hours. Go over to the city’s website to see all the topics but here are a select few that really focus on downtown Raleigh.

The Great American Downtown – 2025
October 23, 2013
Mitchell J. Silver, Chief Planning & Development Officer and Planning Director, City of Raleigh

  • What is the experience of place in great cities of the future?
  • How can Raleigh make it happen?
  • Who will be living in Raleigh in 2025?

Jobs + Talent 2025
December 4, 2013
James Sauls, Director, Economic Development, and Derrick Minor, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Manager, City of Raleigh, Economic Development Department

  • What types of industries are we trying to grow locally and recruit nationally?
  • How important is talent recruitment and retention to a community?
  • How do you establish a culture of innovation and creativity?

Back to the Future in Raleigh
February 12, 2014
Eric Lamb, PE, Transportation Planning Manager, City of Raleigh

  • How will people move in the City of Tomorrow?
  • How will the evolution of technology change the way we need to travel?
  • Are there places around the world today where we can glimpse the future?

Population Growth, Sustainability, and the Need for Urban Greenspace
April 23, 2014
Danesha Seth Carley, PhD., Assistant Professor, Department of Crop Science, NC State University

  • Is there a place for “green space” in the city of the future?
  • How can we increase and protect our green space and what value does that bring to our community?
  • How will the city be feeding itself in an era of diminishing resources and increasing carbon footprint?

Downtown: An Engine for Wake County’s Tourism Strategy
May 21, 2014
David Diaz, CEO, Downtown Raleigh Alliance, and Julie Brakenbury, Director of Services, Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau

  • What is the role of a downtown in attracting visitors?
  • What are downtown Raleigh’s key strengths challenges as a center for tourism?
  • How does the visitor bureau quantify the economic impact of downtown Raleigh’s tourism assets?

by Leo Suarez

Blount Street – Person Street Corridor Study Approved, Plans For Walkable, Livable Streets

Blount Street at Hargett Street

Blount Street at Hargett Street

On July 16, 2013, the Raleigh City Council approved the Blount/Person Street Corridor study. The project that includes the two streets from Capital Boulevard down to I-40 along Hammond Road has been ongoing since October 2012. The result could be more multi-modal streets that are phased in as funding becomes available.

There are well over 1000 pages of analysis, renderings, and overviews on the project, all available on the city’s website. I thought I’d take the time to skim through and put some highlights of the project here on the blog.

One important thing to be aware of is that funding for Phase 1 is included in the Transportation Bond coming to this October’s ballot. That will pay for a re-striping project of Blount and Person Streets that lays the foundation for the One-Way Road Diet plan.

Read on for more details.

Overview and Project Area

As mentioned earlier, the project area starts in the north along Atlantic Avenue near Capital Boulevard, continues down Wake Forest Road to the one-way pairs of Blount/Person Streets and ends at Hammond Road through I-40.

Below is map of the area taken from the documents. It’s a lengthy map so click to expand/collapse it.

Map of the Blount/Person Street Corridor Study

Map of the Blount/Person Street Corridor Study

During the July 16 city council meeting, Grant Meacci from city planning gave an overview to the council. You can watch it in the video below.

One-way versus Two-Way

The report’s findings are based around some high-level themes which include:

  • A Complete Street – “The corridor has the potential to encourage and serve a wide range of users,”
  • A Functional Street – “The corridor provides valuable and needed access to Downtown Raleigh, adjacent
    neighborhoods, and major regional destinations”
  • A Vibrant Street – “The community envisions a thriving corridor with a wide range of housing, shopping and working opportunities.”
  • A Beautiful Street – “A beautiful street is the result of continued investment in streetscape, tree planting, and street character.”

With these themes in mind, two design alternatives have come out that could accomplish the goals of the study.

  1. One-Way Road Diet
  2. Two-Way Restoration

In addition to studying both of these alternatives, the report states that they should not be seen as mutually exclusive but rather steps towards achieving the vision for the corridor. So for example the one-way road diet could be put in now but later, after feedback from the community and further analysis, the two-way restoration could be implemented.

The report has a great one-page comparison chart that states the potential negative impacts as well as benefits of each approach. Click on it below to see it larger.

Alternatives of Blount/Person Street Corridor Study

Alternatives of Blount/Person Street Corridor Study

To make this all happen, 3 phases are proposed.

  1. Road Diet Restriping – 4 sections along the corridor ~$730,000 (To be on the Oct 2013 Transportation Bond)
  2. Streetscape – 3 section along the corridor ~$7.47 million
  3. Two-Way restoration – 3 section along the corridor ~$4.17 million

The sections are broken out so it looks possible to fund them in even smaller steps if necessary.

Details and Renderings

Public participation was a key part of this project and hundreds of ideas and comments were submitted. The report has an exhaustive list of comments that were organized into themes, the ones that helped shape the ones mentioned above. Here are a sample.

Business & Economic Development

  • Safe access to business
  • Vibrant community business district
  • Local Independent businesses
  • Thriving businesses that are accessible by peds, bikes, and cars
  • Support growth of small neighborhood (walk to businesses)

Traffic Mobility

  • Slow traffic speeds
  • Alternative parking solutions
  • Connection to Downtown
  • Ease of grid design between sections
  • Easy access to BeltLine and I-40

Walkable & Multimodal

  • Traffic Calming
  • Ability to safely walk to venues
  • Walkable to Downtown, safe for children to roam
  • People Friendly environment
  • Reduce traffic, increase bus service

The report then gets into showing the different “layers” around the corridor including existing land use, popular destinations, open space, parks, and current redevelopment plans. This really shows you the mix of neighborhoods and historic resources that are present in this area.

No report is complete without a traffic analysis and the report has a mountain of information including traffic counts, travel time, and level of service. Looks like most of the downtown intersections show pretty good marks with the data taken in 2011.

The street design here is a mixed-bag of offerings with streets that have sidewalks and good urban form while others are lacking proper sidewalks. The worst areas were to the south near Bragg and Branch Street as well as to the north near Wake Forest Road and Atlantic Avenue.

For reference, each section’s current street design within the corridor has an accompanying rendering. For example, below is Blount Street from Edenton to South Street.


Current street cross-section.

Current street cross-section.

Section 2 of the corridor study introduces us to some Street Design Guidelines. You don’t have to be an urban planner to follow this section but a lot of the proposed changes to the corridor will follow these principles. Topics include:

  • Sidewalk Spatial Standards
  • Green Streets – Techniques to transform typical street surfaces into stormwater collection system using carefully selected landscaping.
  • Bulb-outs
  • Street Furnishings
  • Components of a Vehicular Corridor
  • Components of a Intersection (including roundabouts)

Outdoor cafe on bulb-out

Outdoor cafe on bulb-out by Kaizer Rangwala, on Flickr

The next section of the report gets into the details of transitioning from current conditions to both the one-way road diet and/or the two-way restoration.

With roundabouts around Capital Boulevard to the north and improved intersections around Hoke Street to the south, there are also conceptual drawings of what the new Blount/Person streets could look like running through downtown Raleigh.

During the One-Way Road Diet plan, the following would be implemented on Blount/Person:

  • “Maintains the one-way operation and proposes a ‘road diet’ eliminating one travel lane in each direction. The elimination of a travel lane allows the street to be reconfigured to include a bicycle lane in each direction (northbound on Person Street and southbound on Blount Street).”
  • “Bicycle Facilities – The corridor-wide road diet allows space for a continuous bike lane in each direction from Hoke Street to Atlantic Avenue.”

Before and after street cross-section.

Before and after street cross-section.

The Two-Way Restoration plan has a lot going on. Refer to section 3 of the report to see the conceptual designs that include a few more roundabouts as well as possibly slimming down Person and Blount Streets to one-lane in each direction. I do want to re-iterate that further analysis is needed to get to that point but this report starts the conversation.

The study wraps up with the traffic analysis. You can dive even deeper into that with the over 1000+ page detailed traffic analysis report for the real municipal geeks out there. The analysis shows how a variety of intersections currently perform and how they are projected to perform under the proposed changes.