Category / Planning DT Raleigh

by Leo Suarez

Urban Design Center Survey For Next Downtown Raleigh Plan

I shared this on Twitter recently but wanted to drop it here since the deadline is this weekend. Raleigh’s Urban Design Center (UDC) is conducting a survey. The Downtown Perception survey asks you point blank what do you like about downtown Raleigh and what are ways to improve it. Click the link below to share your thoughts with the city.

2013 Downtown Perception Survey DRA/UDC

The UDC in collaboration with the Downtown Raleigh Alliance (DRA) will use the results towards the newest downtown Raleigh plan that should be taking place later this year.

Oh and I guess I can’t forget to mention that respondents who provide their email could also win a $200 downtown gift card. Get your answers in by June 16.

by Leo Suarez

Weekend Reel: Economics of Downtown Development

I recommend email readers click through to the website to see the embedded video.

Here’s a great video that’s required watching for the connoisseur within. Raleigh’s Chief Planning and Development Officer, Mitchell Silver, gives a presentation about the return on investing in downtowns versus the suburbs.

I was at this presentation and thought it very informative. Enjoy!

by Leo Suarez

Downtown Raleigh Lecture Videos For Erasing Any Holiday Boredom

Bored over the holidays? Here’s a video that should get all Downtown Raleigh fans excited. It’s part of the Urban Design Center’s education forums titled, “Raleigh’s Identity -What’s Downtown Got to Do With It?”

This is the first video of eight planned lectures. It’s very interesting to see the different downtown plans, with some going as far back as the 1950s.

Enjoy!

by Leo Suarez

The Raleigh Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan, A Connoisseur’s Overview

Sidewalk along Peace Street.

The city’s newest plan for improving the pedestrian experience in Raleigh was posted on the city’s website a few weeks ago and public comments are being taken on it until this Friday. Whether you realize it or not, the sidewalks are a significant transportation system and are important for multi-modal trips around Raleigh.

Last year, voters approved a $40 million transportation bond with $4.75 million going towards sidewalk related improvements. The comprehensive plan lists out some of those projects as well as moving Raleigh to a new system of prioritization for future projects.

I found the plan thorough and easy to read. It goes into the design of new sidewalks and intersections, best practices, and uses technical language to explain things but not to a point that confuses a reader. This plan can really empower a neighborhood that’s looking to make changes and allow them to “speak the language” when researching the option to petition for improvements.

Here is my chapter to chapter summary for those preferring an even lighter read.

Continue reading →

by Leo Suarez

Municipography: Union Station and R-Line Changes

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.

I recommend email readers click through to the website to see the embedded video.

At the Raleigh City Council meeting on September 4, 2012, the council discussed funding for the Union Station project as well as approved some changes at the Moore Square Bus Station that will effect the R-Line.

Union Station


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During the meeting, council discussed a future commitment of $3 million towards the Union Station project. Comments were generally positive about the station and it really feels that Raleigh and NCDOT want this project to succeed. With a 6-1 vote, the council approved the additional funds.

The city also approved the allocation of funds towards development of a schematic design for the project.

Bus Traffic at Moore Square Station

We haven’t talked about it on this blog before but there have been grumblings about the bus and pedestrian traffic along Wilmington Street and the effect it has on nearby businesses. To catch readers up, I’ll point you to a few articles from the local news media:

Business owners and residents in the Moore Square area met with the City of Raleigh on Tuesday, trying to come up with ways to address loitering, panhandling and bus congestion in the Moore Square District.

*Downtown Raleigh residents decry loitering, panhandling, ‘riff-raff’

Business owners say the crowds, coupled with bus congestion along the street, create an uninviting atmosphere for customers.

*New merchants chafe at crowds from Moore Square bus terminal

Here’s an alternative viewpoint from Barry Saunders at the N&O.

Here’s my advice to the business owners who are so dismayed that a city’s downtown transit center has people occupying various rungs of the social ladder: go out and meet them and talk to them. You may find that they are just like you, except they don’t have a car.

*Saunders: Respect needed among Moore Square’s old and new

Now that you are caught up, at the city council meeting this week, the recommendations from the Law and Public Safety Committee were unanimously approved. Those include:

  • Expand the bus zone on Wilmington Street to relieve bus congestion.
  • Move the R-16 Moore Square Deck station south of Martin Street.
  • The R-Line will now always run along the nighttime route that rounds Moore Square.
  • Immediate upgrades to the Moore Square Station including better pedestrian access, lighting, and safety upgrades.

While this may or may not solve the bus traffic issue on Wilmington Street, the R-Line may be the victim. R-Line riders could potentially experience added wait time as the bus will always make the trip around Moore Square rather than driving straight up Wilmington Street during the daytime operating hours. However, this may be a temporary solution until the Moore Square Bus Station is significantly upgraded for more bus capacity.

by Leo Suarez

Some Additions To The Downtown Arena Discussion

A Carolina Hurricanes hockey game at the RBC Center in 2010.

We talked about parking earlier in the month and now it’s time for another love affair of mine; the downtown sports arena topic. I just want to quote two articles that add to the ongoing conversation. For newer readers, a sports arena in downtown Raleigh is an idea that floats in every now and then and is by no means planned or even in concept at this time.

You could certainly argue that I think we’re not ready for an urban arena and that the location of the PNC Center is perfectly adequate. To add some points on the development topic, whether arenas spur it or not, Richard Florida asks exactly that with an article at The Atlantic Cities.

Sports boosters claim the new stadiums bring economic benefits and add to a city’s “big league” status. But objective academic studies have countered this view, noting that stadiums add little in the way of actual economic benefit.

*Do Basketball Arenas Spur Economic Development?

The study that Mr. Florida writes about does mention cities that had a positive affect on development and a rise in regional income. However, it’s possible that this rise in an area’s income is a result from the arena moving from the suburbs to the city. The net could be zero.

And then comes the taxpayer benefit from making the investment in additional teams and stadiums/arenas. Dr. Kurt Rotthoff of Seton Hall University talked on the radio at WAMC about how politicians may try to sell the idea that sports teams and using incentives to build venues are a catalyst for economic development.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on new stadiums, with the claim that they will create tens- or hundreds of millions of dollars of local economic impact; however, looking at county employment and incomes after a team enters or leaves a town, a co-author and I find mixed results on employment, with no overall impact, and mainly no impact on incomes, but a few cases of a negative impact. This means there is no impact, or possibly a negative impact, of bringing a team to town, and no impact, with the possibility of a positive impact, when the team leaves town. This primarily occurs because there is a shift in consumption, from restaurants and bars to the stadium, when these teams come to town and thus no net increase in consumption. Restaurants and bars do open closer to the stadium, but this is a result of them closing locations in other sections of town.

*Dr. Kurt Rotthoff, Seton Hall University – Economic Impact of Sports Arenas

One can just look at West Raleigh and see that development has not followed the PNC Center and it’ll be years before it does. Mr. Florida ends his article well with:

The present research is generally consistent with the notion that professional sports are not the cause of development so much as they are the effect.”

West Raleigh fans do have a lot to look forward to in the Blue Ridge Road District Study which may turn that street and all the areas around the fairgrounds and the sports complex into an active destination.

by Leo Suarez

Breaking Apart The Wishbone Intersection At Peace Street

Email readers: This blog post has image galleries. Read the post on the blog to see all the images.

The intersection of Peace, Wilmington, Halifax, and Salisbury.

Talks, visions, and plans for lots of places in downtown Raleigh exist if you know where to look. Solving problems like traffic congestion or providing new amenities for pedestrians and bicyclists are driving factors for new plans. The intersection on Peace Street with Wilmington, Salisbury, and Halifax Streets is being looked at and I thought it might be fun to go over some points that I see in the Peace Street Visioning Study, a sub-topic in the Capital Boulevard Corridor Study.

No plans are final and the report mainly discusses topics for future exploring. One highlight mentions:

The Wilmington/Halifax/Peace Street intersection represents a second opportunity to improve traffic flow and reduce congestion. A two-lane roundabout is recommended for feasibility analysis by the City transportation engineers. This intersection continues to be a bottleneck which may be improved with more conventional traffic engineering solutions. However, there is some prospect that a two lane extended roundabout might provide free-flowing traffic while establishing a signature open space at this important gateway into the state government center and downtown. The roundabout would extend south in to the Wilmington Salisbury loop, with the roadway geometry offset to the south.

Here’s a screenshot of a map of that section and what it might look like from a conceptual level.

Peace Street Visioning Study, intersection of Halifax, Wilmington, and Peace Streets.

Seems like Raleighites either love or hate these larger roundabouts. It will be interesting to see the analysis and if the plan has merit.

The civic space within the center of the roundabout has potential but I question whether pedestrians will use it. Could an active public space exist within a busy roundabout of this small size?

I’d like to see another plan for this area, one Raleigh has already had, and that is to return the streets to their original configuration. The wishbone piece of the intersection could be removed and Wilmington and Salisbury Streets can be straightened out up to Peace. A map of Raleigh in 1914 shows this configuration including Halifax Street making it’s way up to Union Square as it has always been before the state government complex was built. (yay, urban renewal?)

It’s possible that this idea takes a busy intersection and splits it into two smaller ones. Here’s a mock up in Google Maps of what it could look like.


View Peace/Salisbury/Wilmington Intersection Idea in a larger map

Current properties in the map, shown in blue, are the AIA NC building and a Department of Administration building. In orange, you can see the returned street extensions and the green covers the wishbone piece of the current intersection. I also highlighted two service entrances in purple that are needed for the government complex.

The new green space is wide open in terms of future uses. Possibilities for it are new mixed-use developments, completely open green space, or a balance of the two. If a civic plaza is desired, the complete road removals would allow for more space.

In terms of traffic flow, I’m also curious what would happen if Salisbury Street were changed to a two-way street. With it connecting directly into Seaboard Station Avenue, bicycles and vehicles would have a direct connection from the core downtown to Seaboard Station.

There is also a really great view looking north at Seaboard Station that anyone driving, pedaling, or walking on Salisbury would feel more welcomed to a different downtown district. If you notice on a map, Vaughn Court is the current “extension” of Salisbury Street. Here’s a view looking north from that street. Click for a larger view.

Seaboard Station entrance from Vaughn Court

I feel that this should become a “main entrance” to Seaboard Station in more of a way that it is today. With a two-way Salisbury Street, there could be better connections from Seaboard Station to downtown. You also get the visual bonus in that drivers and pedestrians can see their destination a few blocks away. Currently, you have trees and parts of the government center parking deck in front of you.

Looking North on Salisbury Street.

Wilmington Street already has a great view with the William Peace University main building front and center to traffic. An extension to the road could make the new intersection of Wilmington and Peace a more interesting place, brought about with any future developments that come from the Blount Street Commons project.

View of William Peace University down Wilmington Street.

With more development coming, an improved road network may make for more successful redevelopment in this area and who knows, maybe the government district could begin to grow some life during the off hours.

Click on the image below for a gallery of more images of the area.

View of the AIA NC building and William Peace University main building from Wilmington Street.

by Leo Suarez

Municipography, Capital Boulevard and a Transit Tax

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.

I recommend email readers click through to the website to see the embedded video.

This week, there was action at both the city and county level. Heated comments took place at the Wake County Commission meeting over a tax increase that would support expanded transit options in the county. Raleigh city staff presented the Capital Boulevard Corridor Study, a vision to remake the area from Peace Street all the way to I-440.

Capital Boulevard Corridor Study


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City staff presented a general overview of the Capital Boulevard Corridor Study as well as some of the data gathered and citizen feedback. After some light conversation, the city council moved it to the Comprehensive Planning Committee for further review. An endorsement of the plan is needed before August to align with the NCDOT’s plans to design new bridges for Capital Boulevard at Peace Street and Wade Avenue.

Councilors briefly mentioned the topic of the at-grade intersection at Capital and Peace so I expect more conversation about it at the committee meeting. Still, city staff has added some excellent reading as an appendix to the corridor study and breaks down the metrics of measuring an intersection’s effectiveness. They explain the advantages and disadvantages of each interchange design including one type of at-grade proposal.

Wake County 1/2 Cent Sales Tax For Transit

On Monday:

In a 4-to-3 vote along party lines, members of the Wake County Commission Monday turned down a proposal to consider a transit plan and a half-cent sales tax referendum for this November’s ballot.

Commissioner Erv Portman presented the motion, at the very end of a meeting during which more than 20 people spoke in favor of putting the referendum on this November’s ballot.

Although Monday’s meeting agenda included no mention of the sales tax for an expanded transit plan in the Triangle, the topic dominated the public comment period.

Commission Votes Against Debate on Transit Sales Tax via Raleigh Public Record.

To hear/watch the public comment period, jump over to the Wake Board of Commissioners meeting agenda for June 18, 2012.

The needed 1/2 cent sales tax increase to secure a source of funding before transit in Wake County can be expanded has now been kicked down the road again. Durham County has approved it and is waiting for Orange and Wake Counties to do the same before they start collecting.

Orange County votes on the 1/2 cent sales tax increase this November.