I have seen this work going on at the Moore Square bus station for a few weeks now but it was only today that I noticed the signs around the construction fencing. They say that new lighting, walkways, and seating will be put into this area.
As someone who walks here a few times a week to ride, the added room is welcome. At certain times of the day, the sidewalks are jammed with people. Hopefully this is one of many future additions that Raleigh’s central transit station should have in place.
I watched some of the city council meeting last night and train noise was a pretty hot issue, one of the bullets the Five Points residents were firing off as to why they were against the NC3 option. What I hope, very much hope, is that the good citizens in the Glenwood-Brooklyn neighborhood and the Five Points neighborhood are against the noise coming from a high-speed train and do not think it sounds the same as a freight train.
If you are not caught up on the high-speed rail corridor debate, hit the archives tagged SEHSR here.
I support the NC3 option, with the added removal of the Hargett Street bridge, and want to wait for more details about this new NC4 option before I even touch it. I think some more investigation with this noise issue is needed because Norfolk-Southern, who is against the NC3 option, has definitely helped organize the citizens in the previously mentioned neighborhoods against new trains going through here at all. They are obviously concerned about their interested, very little or not at all concerned about ours.
A comparison has to be made here; freight versus passenger trains. In my opinion, these higher capable speed trains WILL sound different then the freight trains that go through there. This comes from my experience riding and being around trains in Asia. The passenger trains are built better probably because people will be on board and not cargo. You don’t get the clatter and clacking noise from freight trains. Hopefully NCDOT can provide better data on noise because I thought they did a very poor job answering the council’s questions about train noise last night.
Here are some random videos that are relevant to this topic. You can make up your own mind.
Freight versus High Speed rail Noise Impact on the Frankfurt-Cologne line.
Diesel cross-country train going through Shawford Station
A very quiet electric locomotive leaving a station.
Bus shelter on Morgan Street taken with my camera phone.
A bus shelter has popped up on Morgan Street at the R-Line stop near the intersection with Dawson Street. Bus shelters were on the to-do list for Capital Area Transit so hopefully more are on the way, especially with the colder season just a few months away.
The trusses of Terminal 2. Picture by southpaw20, on Flickr
This is just a quick reminder that a slew of new Triangle Transit bus route changes are in affect as of the moment you read this. Most important to highlight to readers of this blog is Route 100, starting at Moore Square in downtown Raleigh, with stops at both terminals at the RDU airport, and ending in Research Triangle Park.
Here is Triangle Transit’s link to everything that involves a green bus and airplanes. Take note that this only costs two bucks one way.
Triangle Transit – Airport To and From
SEHSR Tier II DEIS public hearing
5:00 – 7:00 p.m. followed by public hearings at 7:00 p.m.
Raleigh Convention Center – 500 South Salisbury StreetRead more about the event at SEHSR.org
We have already discussed the planned options on the table relating to downtown Raleigh so in preparation for tonight’s hearing, here are two thoughts to add.
Elevated Jones Street
The closing, or “retirement” in NCDOT’s words, of Jones Street at the rail crossing should be the hot topic between downtowners. One option, the CSX corridor option, proposes elevating the street over the tracks. This means that from Boylan to about Harrington, Jones would be raised off the ground. To help paint that picture, imagine the top of the street being as high as the roof of the building 518 West is in. That would mean that the next time Google Street view updates its images, this view would be a good 20 to 25 feet higher.
Let it sink in.
I’ve read the reports and walked the area, this option just does not seem to click with me. Whoever drew up this idea must not live or work in downtown. They had to of visited in a car, surveyed the area in a car, and its possible they sleep in one every night. Even if built, someone driving on Glenwood Avenue would have to turn off Glenwood, turn at Boylan Avenue, and then turn onto Jones Street in order to cross the tracks. There won’t be an on ramp put up to get you from Glenwood to Jones Street.
So the new Jones Street would further ruin the grid-like structure we have near the south end of Glenwood South, making it a little more confusing to navigate by car, pedestrian and bike access would be limited, and the Jones/Glenwood intersection would not be aesthetically pleasing. It may also create more car traffic on Boylan Avenue, which is lined with single family homes and this may lower the desirability for people to live here.
The planners say that throwing Jones Street into the air over the tracks is to maintain connectivity of Glenwood South to the rest of downtown. The CSX plan also closes Harrington and West where the tracks cross so this would help keep the area isolated. In my opinion this is the most invasive option. I wish I had numbers for this but in my opinion, cars mostly run up and down West and Harrington while pedestrians mostly cross the tracks at Jones. The closings and the elevated street would cut off the primary users.
If you can’t go over, go under
One idea that many are not talking about is the idea of burying the train. Immediately people snap back about how expensive it is and that it will probably flood during the 200 hurricanes we get each year. Also, the politics behind getting this done are out of Raleigh’s league. We’ll get to this shortly.
Five Points residents are really interested to see what happens to the Fairview Road train crossing. If the Norfolk-Southern option is chosen, this crossing would be closed. Why hasn’t the option to run the trains under this road been explored?
Looking at a map, the train would roll into town from the north and go under Wake Forest Road, like it does today. They would then turn and head through the Norfolk-Southern rail yards before hitting Fairview Road. This is where the train could ramp underground, go under Fairview, under Wade Avenue, under Peace Street, Johnson, Tucker, North, and Jones Street. It would finally pull into Union Station by Hargett Street at a lower elevation.
Did you follow that? Here’s a map.
The benefits of this option is that there would be no disruption to the current street layout, except during construction most likely. The train would go into Union Station at a much lower elevation but so what, Union Station hasn’t been designed yet! Also when the train continues west to Cary, it has all that room by NC State to ramp up back to grade level. No street closures, no train noise, no problems.
But with all the pros comes the cons.
The cost of this idea would easily be many times more then anything currently on the table. I would be a little nervous about going with the most expensive option. However, I’m the guy that spends a little extra to buy the quality brand in order to get more in the long run.
One could make the argument that running the train underground and not disrupting the growing entertainment and residential district would pay off in the long run. Union Station may spur lots of development in Glenwood South, maybe much more if streets are not closed and Jones Street is not elevated. Development on existing infrastructure is also great. That’s more tax dollars for the city brought in by visitors on the train.
If obstacles are placed in Glenwood South, the hassle may hurt. A less walkable district could lower the amount of condos being built in the future. A less accessible entertainment district may result in less conventions being booked. A confusing street grid may bring less visitors from around the Triangle, who arrive by car, and these mobile visitors can easily go elsewhere with their thirst, hunger, and money.
The politics behind modifying the Norfolk-Southern lines here, I’m guessing, would be a huge undertaking and those in the know are probably laughing while reading this. It is definitely not in Norfolk-Southern’s interest, just running it in their corridor has them upset, as was the intent of a meeting near Five Points this past Saturday.
Does Raleigh have what it takes to get the high-speed train to run the way it wants or will we approve whatever option has the least resistance?
And why is this “non-disruptive”, as far as I know, option not even on the table? Yes, I know it would be expensive but to not even present it to us, the citizens, is bad a service to us, the ones that walk the streets around here.
Alright, almost done
It’s obvious I have given this a lot of thought and I think it is a much bigger deal then people think. I’m behind all the support for a beefed up train network in this country and would love to see Raleigh as the gateway to the south with the new high-speed rail line.
These transit events, if like others, are great for getting questions answered and just having conversations with the experts about what the plans are and what ideas have been thrown around. I encourage everyone to weigh in with their opinions, not here on the blog but on the SEHSR website. Here is a link to their survey where you can tell them what you think.
This week, the Raleigh DLA had a big announcement that it has brought a car sharing program to downtown Raleigh. With the help of the Glenwood Agency, the car sharing company, WeCar, will maintain two cars in designated parking spots for the program. Jump on over to the Raleigh DLA’s blog post for all the details on how they got it done and how it will work.
WeCar is owned by Enterprise Rent-A-Car, who, if you don’t know already, has a rental car lot at the corner of McDowell and Cabarrus Streets. They will cover the maintenance of the cars while not in use. The two Honda Civics will have their own designated parking spots; one on the Enterprise lot and the other on West Street near the North Street intersection.
Car sharing has launched in several cities, including this year in Nashville and has been around since 2008 in St. Louis, and some universities, with the University of West Virginia and University of Missouri having their own car sharing programs.
Two cars may not sound like a lot but today the seed has been planted. The city of Raleigh has put out a bid for an official car sharing program for the area and if WeCar wins this bid, more cars will start to pop up in downtown as well as around NC State and Meredith College.
Car sharing is another option for anyone living downtown to be more mobile and get around the city. With this system in place, there is an option to use a car when the city’s transit network can’t get the job done. Increased options is always a good thing.
If successful and car sharing grows in Raleigh, this hopefully will impact future developments. If the need for more cars goes down, so does the need for parking decks and more space can be built for sale rather then for metal boxes. It will be exciting to see car sharing grow in downtown Raleigh over the next few years.
This Tier II DEIS evaluates detailed study alternatives within this preferred corridor between Richmond and Raleigh In the Tier II DEIS, the project corridor is divided into 26 sections. There are three alternatives in each section, and each rail alternative includes an associated set of highway improvements.
The point of this public comment period is for everyone living in the affected counties to look at the proposed rail paths and provide feedback to the planners. There are open events along the route throughout July. Most RalCon readers will probably be concerned with the Wake County event, which is on Monday July 26th, from 5-7pm. As always, the SEHSR website is always up and open for comments from now until August 30th. Maps are available for each section from here to Richmond with the proposed plans for the rail line.
The route in Raleigh starts at the Boylan Wye in the warehouse district. The maps showing this are available on the SEHSR site here. There are two proposals that show very different paths for trains heading north out of the wye and I’d like to focus on those in this post.
There’s good additional reading from Bruce Siceloff, who sums it up nicely with this piece in the N&O. Siceloff writes:
Should the trains follow Norfolk Southern tracks north from Jones Street along the west side of Capital Boulevard to Wake Forest Road? Or should they go along Capital’s east side, using CSX tracks?
Norfolk Southern tracks
See the full map in pdf format here.
Simply put, this option would run the trains behind The Hue condo building and along the elevated tracks that go over North, Tucker, Johnson, and Peace Streets in the Glenwood South area. The train would head north along the west side of Capital Blvd and out of town.
A major drawback to this plan would be the result of having Jones street closed to traffic. Yes, completely closed and a dead end would await you when you pull up to Natty Greene’s. This is also the more expensive option.
CSX Tracks
See the full map in pdf format here.
This option bends the train a little and makes it head north on the east side of Capital Blvd. To get over to the other side, the train would cross Jones Street, just like the previous proposal, cross West and Harrington Streets where it would then cruise over the already built bridge over Capital and then take off north out of the city.
This plan would result in the closing of West and Harrington Streets where the tracks cross. Jones Street would also be elevated to cross over the tracks.
My Initial Thoughts
According to Siceloff’s article, the city opposes the CSX option, which makes me happy. From his article:
The CSX route proposal would require a new bridge to elevate Jones at least 25 feet over the tracks – and over Glenwood and West streets nearby.
I had to read that one three times before it sank in. A bridge spanning almost an entire city block is not what I support for Glenwood South. Metal and concrete rising 25 feet in the air will destroy the beautiful character that the old electric company building brings to that section of Jones Street. It would also wipe out any pedestrian activity here and would be a huge blow to the massive amount of nightlife that takes place.
The Norfolk Southern route is what I will support but with a few comments about the closing of Jones Street completely. Obviously, I don’t want a bridge for cars to cross but zero access across Jones Street is not acceptable either. What the city could explore is the idea of an attractive pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks. The dead end sections of Jones Street on either side are not needed also and a beautification study can be taken on. Two plazas on either sides of the tracks would be a really unique thing for downtown and would only encourage more pedestrian activity in the area.
Those are just my thoughts but make sure to get yours in on the SEHSR’s website or at the open house on July 26th.
The two-way conversion of Morgan Street is part of the roundabout construction project at the intersection of Morgan and Hillsborough streets. Drivers should be aware of the construction and possible traffic delays when traveling in this area.
via City of Raleigh | Section Of Morgan Street To Open To Two-Way Traffic On May 1.