by Leo Suarez

High Speed Rail Adds NC5 Alternative, More Massive Maps No Monitor Can Handle

High speed rail talk is back! It has been just over a year since the last major update on the plans to run high speed rail from Raleigh to Richmond, Va. This time, a new alternative has been released, called the NC5 alternative, and SEHSR.org has a massive map that you can download to see this proposal.

First, let me plug the meeting about this update.

The public is invited to attend a Project Update Meeting to learn about a new rail alternative developed for the SEHSR [Southeast High Speed Rail] corridor in downtown Raleigh, NC. The meeting will be held Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Raleigh Convention Center.

For some history on the project, you can dive into the older RalCon posts here. The short of the story is that in the summer of 2010, three plans were on the table for the portion of the rail line running from Whitaker Mill Road to the future station in Downtown Raleigh’s Boylan Wye. Comments from all three plans were taken in and now a fourth alternative is on the table. By the way for the mathematically gifted, an NC4 alternative was a real idea last year but didn’t gain much ground, hence the NC5 naming of this recent one.

The SEHSR site introduces this new alternative nicely:

Alternative NC5 was developed in response to strong public opposition to Alternative NC3, as well as to the City of Raleigh’s opposition to the disruption of traffic and pedestrian patterns in the area around Jones Street and Glenwood South presented by Alternatives NC1 and NC2. It was also developed to minimize impacts to the freight operations within the Norfolk Southern and CSX rail yards. Last, Alternative NC5 was developed to avoid impacts to historic resources listed in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Along with the development of Alternative NC5, revisions have been made to Alternatives NC1, NC2, and NC3 based on comments on the DEIS. All alternatives have removed the bridge on Hargett Street over the railroad, and would instead close the Hargett Street railroad crossing. In addition, a pedestrian bridge along Jones Street over the railroad corridor was added to Alternative NC3 (as well as the new Alternative NC5) to mitigate the effects of the road closure.

If you want, you can download the pdf in its original form at this link, taken right off the SEHSR site.

However, if you happen to like maps that have north pointing straight up, like I do, I have cut, copied and rotated the same version with north pointing towards the top of your monitor. For smaller viewing, I’ve also included key sections of the map that show the major changes.

Rotated NC5 map full map (3605×4274)
Whitaker Mill elevated bridge (600×500)
Wade Avenue and bridge over Capital and West (600×500)
Jones Street pedestrian bridge (600×500)

UPDATE: 09-18-11

Steven Waters has made a mash up of the NC5 alternative and Google Maps. See the overlay at this link.

Walking Riding through NC5

Let me attempt to talk you through this route. Place yourself on Whitaker Mill road where it crosses the tracks between Wake Forest Road and Atlantic Avenue. This fictional train I’m putting you on is facing south and will be heading into downtown Raleigh.

The first change is that Whitaker Mill Road will go over the tracks. Not such a shocking change as all the alternatives propose this. It’s a requirement that high speed rail operate on dedicated tracks and not share with street traffic.

Next, starts the controversy that we went through last year. As the tracks move south to Capital Boulevard, there is a crossing between tracks owned by CSX and others owned by Norfolk-Southern. Should the high speed trains follow the CSX corridor or the Norfolk-Southern?

Under NC5, the high speed train continues south and will stay on the CSX train corridor, which are the set of tracks east of Capital Boulevard. This avoids the Norfolk-Southern railyard on the west side of Capital, something that they greatly opposed.

As the train moves southward, the next interesting piece comes around the Wade Avenue flyover. A bridge will be built over Capital and West Street allowing the trains to come out of the CSX corridor and then enter the Norfolk-Southern corridor on the west side of Capital.

The train then continues on into downtown to the future Union Station.

Now I mentioned earlier that streets must be closed for high speed rail and in Glenwood South, Jones Street is the only street where the train crosses at the same level of the tracks so by this rule, Jones would have to be closed at this point. That is the case here. Under NC5, Jones Street will be closed to vehicular traffic. However, the alternative includes a pedestrian bridge over the tracks where the other alternatives did not include that before.

A very interesting plan for sure. The pedestrian bridge over the tracks on Jones Street is a huge plus for downtown and I’m glad the idea of the elevated bridge for vehicles was essentially thrown out. With an ongoing Capital Boulevard corridor study going on, I wonder if this bridge over it will mesh well with a new corridor vision.

Enjoy the maps and provide your comments before October 27th.

by Leo Suarez

Municipography, Food Trucks Approved in Downtown Raleigh

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.

Food Trucks Approved With A 6-2 Vote


Get Microsoft Silverlight

The Raleigh City Council has now approved the operation of food trucks in the city with a list of restrictions. Councilor Mary-Ann Baldwin presented the issue as it left last week’s Law and Public Safety Committee but proposing an amendment to change the 1am time limit back to 3am. The reasoning was to be more consistent with the push carts that currently are allowed to sell food until 3am. A list of some of the major rules are:

  • Food trucks are allowed on private property only, no public right of way unless it’s a special event.
  • A 10pm time limit is in effect when around residential areas.
  • A food truck maximum is three per one acre lot or larger. It’s less with smaller lots.
  • A lot permit ($74) and a food truck permit ($150) must be obtained from the lot owner and food truck owner each year.
  • Ordinance goes into effect on October 1st, 2011 to allow time to create a manual for those seeking the permits.

Councilor Baldwin also proposed that at six months, a report be presented to the council about how the food trucks are doing in the city, any violations and/or any enforcement issues. Councilor Eugene Weeks and Councilor Russ Stephenson spoke up supporting the changes and the six month report.

The strongest opponent to the food trucks was Councilor John Odom, speaking up with an apprehensive tone and claiming that, “I think we’re moving to fast.” He even brought a slight reaction from the crowd after ending his talk with, “I’m not looking forward to being like Durham I’ll tell you that.” (12:32 in the video above)

Outside of the obvious inappropriate and incorrect comment from Councilor Odom, (embarrassing) I’m glad we are moving forward on the food truck issue as we can now put this behind us. I’m still worried about the handling of this issue and some members of the council may not be ready when true innovative ideas present themselves in Raleigh. Will Raleigh welcome innovation or strangle it with restrictions? This topic may be looked at further in a future blog post.

by Leo Suarez

Connoisseurs Report In, Demolition In Glenwood South

Reader Mark sent in these pictures of the demolition work taking place on Johnson Street. This destruction will make way for a new Hampton Inn hotel for Glenwood South, properly dissected in this post here.

While not a visually stunning building, the hotel elevates the district’s status as now visitors can stay right on the strip with easy access to the rest of downtown via the R-Line.

Thanks again Mark for the pictures.

by Leo Suarez

Big Support For Food Trucks In Raleigh By Area Residents

I have a new blog post up on the Raleigh Downtown Living Advocates’ (DLA) blog. The group has polled it’s membership, mostly residents of downtown Raleigh, and there is strong support for having food trucks here.

Strong Support For Food Trucks By DLA Membership via RaleighDLA.com

The attempts of this is to provide hard data to the city council that people support food trucks. Participants in the poll are registered members of the DLA.

The next move on the food truck issue could come on Tuesday, August 30th as the Law and Public Safety Committee has to come up with a recommendation to make for the city council. The committee is made of city councilors so e-mail them your thoughts on this matter so we can move forward.

by Leo Suarez

Shocking News, Raleigh Likes Beer at Tasty Beverage Soft Opening

On Monday evening, the depot saw a line through the parking lot for Tasty Beverage Company‘s soft opening. The soon to open beer store had free samples from the good people at Stone, Anderson Valley, Duck Rabbit Brewery and others. On top of selling beer, the store has a bar in the back with select drafts for tastings.

If you didn’t make it, put Tasty on your grocery list as the selection may be the best in town.

by Leo Suarez

2011 Summer Restaurant Roundup

Downtown Raleigh just keeps adding on to it’s long list of drinks and eats. This summer we have a few openings and more to look forward to as early as this Fall. The usual restaurant roundups are quick and easy so here’s the list.

  • Beasley’s, on the corner of Wilmington and Martin Street, had their soft opening this past weekend and the brown paper over the windows should come down sometime very soon. This is the first of three new places brought to this corner by Ashley Christensen, owner of the already popular Poole’s Diner.
  • The good fellas at Isaac Hunter’s Oak City Tavern have expanded over to Glenwood South. Joel Lane’s Public House is now open in the former space of the short lived restaurant The Artisan, located behind The Diner. I haven’t been but I better see some cherry bounce there.
  • According to their website, Calavera, an empanadas and tequila bar, will be open this month. This is the space previously occupied by 101 lounge at the corner of Davie and Blount Streets.

  • There are signs up in the corner space of the 222 Glenwood Building for an Indian place called Blue Mango. This brings the 222 Glenwood building one step closer to filling in all the retail space on the ground floor.
  • As mentioned very early this year, a Pan-Asian restaurant is being put together on the ground floor of the RBC Plaza tower. We’ll have to keep an eye on this as the last update was it opening “later this year”.
  • Battistella’s, on the corner of Martin and Blount Streets, is showing progress but still has not opened. The last update was a May opening and clearly that hasn’t happened. Unpredictable this restaurant business but their website claims a late August opening.


Click for larger

  • And finally, from the owners of Mosaic, Babylon has opened in the old knitting factory on McDowell. I took the picture above when I walked over and this place has some very swanky outdoor space. A wide angle and a little less light could make for some great pictures. I’m looking forward to trying it and hanging near the pool on a cool night sometime soon.