Sorry, didn’t realize you were responding bout my other outlandish idea. Yea no worries about any of this actually happening.
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330 Dupont Circle ~~ the warehouse building next to the new Boulted.
They are trying to renovate the warehouse-style building and lease out 2 small retail spaces at the front half of the building. I was kinda surprised this site is zoned IX-7. The idea would be to pop in 20 footers & columns and build an elevated slab just above the roof and then build up 6 floors above that. 4 lofts per floor = 24 condos. No parking on site, but surely the Platform has some extra that could be leased if needed? One of the retail spaces would be the residential lobby, etc and the other would be slightly smaller but still available.
Surely the math could work out if instead of buying land, you just need to lease ~1800 square feet and whatever the cost of the air rights is??
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In the absence of a general Parks thread, I’ll drop this here - a study (by a playground design company, to be fair) on how much more use thoughtfully and interestingly designed playgrounds get. It also raises the interesting point that benches and general social spaces integrated into playgrounds are really valuable for teenagers and adults as a place to hang out with friends.
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AI Generated Bus routes
Have a community survey for the whole Triangle. Ask what peoples’ commutes look like. Have everyone draw their commute and feed the heatmap into an AI that can procedurally generate transit routes.
Deciding lines is tough when our roads are such an improbable maze. It’s possible many optimizations could be done through AI that a human would have never considered. It’s worth a look. Right now there are a lot of lines going to and from the downtowns of various municipalities but I suspect better regional connectivity is what we really need as a polycentric metro with so much traffic going to RTP.
GoTriangle has started to synergize services between Raleigh, Durham, and Cary somewhat better, but there’s still a long way to go. Apex has a GoTriangle site and a unique bus line now (started in 2022). Garner is still in the dark ages. Chapel Hill is still a stick in the mud using a different site format and it needs to be brought in line with the others (or vice versa). The whole region should operate as one. The websites need work. Someone should be able to look at a map of everything at once and judge their options. Also the real time bus trackers only work on some sites.
From where I’m sitting this is just basic stuff that could boost ridership significantly with minimal investment.
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Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, hang on here. An actual productive, beneficial use for AI? Is that even legal?
I love this idea and we honestly really need to make use of this kind of data to better plan transit for our existing areas. The BRT system, where we’re actively redeveloping around new transit, is great, but that method can never be complete. But how do we get people to take the survey? How do we ensure we capture a complete picture of the region’s commutes and not just a small subset?
That make us a lot more dense.
Cell network data is already being used to infer commute patterns. Transportation planners use tools like Replica to analyze and visualize this data along with demographic data and then make recommendations based on their findings. From there, the algorithms that planners use now to identify improvements aren’t that difficult to do by hand using GIS software, but AI could potentially help augment their creativity, like @Vatnos says.
This data set still isn’t completely representative of the needs of everyone in an area (access to a cell phone is, unfortunately, not a given, especially in some of the populations we are most interested in serving) but it is a more complete picture than hoping people respond to a survey, and can usually be supported by good, ol’ fashioned boots-on-the-ground community outreach.
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How hard can this be? There is already a train running several times a day between Raleigh and Durham. It is absolutely faster than driving (excluding flooring it at 2 am) and faster than any half baked BRT alternative we cook up. The only reason it’s not viable as a commute option is that it isn’t frequent enough and it’s $7 a pop.
How difficult would it be to fix those things though? Take the Carolinian line and double track it, electrify it, split grades, and run 20 trains a day. Come on man… Raleigh to Durham in under 20 minutes. Raleigh to Charlotte in 1.5 hours. Bam, transit backbone for the region achieved and if GoTriangle wants to take another 20 years then at least we have something in the interim.
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I’ve been looking at local Durham software jobs but it’s hard to justify buying a second car for an in office job. Commuting by train would be great though. Quicker than car and I could get stuff done. Month passes aren’t offered for the Durham route, though, and I’d have to wake up at like 6AM…
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Raleigh to Charlotte in 90 minutes is a stretch for the NCRR route unless you literally don’t stop, which would be a waste.
Something like 30 years ago, Gov Jim Hunt articulated the right vision for the corridor. Hourly trains, 2 hours from Raleigh to Charlotte. That is both reasonably possible, and also would he a huge game changer for intra-state mobility.
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I think we should take the 2 lines and do 2 different services to do just that.
The Carolinian could be the express train, only stopping at the majors - Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, Charlotte. This would serve as NC’s section of the Acela corridor.
The Piedmont could stop at all the towns along the way - Cary, Burlington, High Point, etc.
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I take the Carolinian every Sunday and I will say it is probably the most unreliable train since it is coming from NYC. Piedmont is usually on time!
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On the topic of rail service, I continue to dream of a better commuter rail plan than GoTriangle’s.
Simply, rather than connect Raleigh and Durham, I’d focus on allowing those that live in the suburbs to access downtown Raleigh without a car.
Lucky for us, there are already rail lines running north, south, and east that have limited existing freight traffic, and run directly to the downtowns of surrounding suburbs. The limited existing traffic is important - based on the GoTriangle community meetings I have attended, part of the reason their plan is so expensive is the Clayton-Durham corridor is pretty much the busiest rail corridor in the state. This means double or triple tracking would be required for the entire length, plus complicated dispatching to accommodate the existing Norfolk Southern, CSX, and Amtrak, plus new commuter trains. For contrast, the line south through Fuquay-Varina sees 1-2 trains per day and the line east through Zebulon sees 1-2 trains per week.
You could start small - even with used equipment - and focus on regular reliable service. Add extra trains on Friday and Saturday evenings, and you could bring more people to Raleigh’s nightlife and reduce drunk driving.
The south route could run from Fuquay to Union Station, with stops at (at minimum) Wake Tech South, Ten-Ten Road (maybe combined) West Garner, and Dix Park. Plus possible additions at Willow Springs, and Tryon Rd.
The east route could run from Zebulon to Union Station, with stops at (at minimum) Wendell, Wake Tech East (via a short bus connection?) Knightdale, New Bern Ave at the Beltline, and either Capital Blvd at the beltline or Mordecai (or both).
The north route could run from Wake Forest to Union Station, with plenty of potential stop locations.
Obviously, this plus GoTriangle’s plan would be great, but to me this seems like a better place to start and iron out the kinks, rather than try to figure out commuter rail with all the challenges of the Clayton to Durham line.
Bonus idea: Light rail down the middle of Glenwood Ave to Brier Creek, then south into RDU
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Lightraul is the best choice downtown to RDU via Glenwood is perfect.
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