Capital, as proposed, would definitely be the faster option. I think it becomes a question of human behavior more than anything. Let’s theoretically say that we are able to maximize TOD potential on either corridor. Are potential riders more likely to use a route that is a bit slower, but more comfortable to walk to? Or are they going to prefer a route that is quicker, but getting to the stations is a less pleasant experience?
I’m really not sure what the answer is, because it’s ultimately going to vary from person to person. I think, in an ideal world, we go for US-1 and cap the freeway at some of the stations to make for a more pleasant walking experience, but even then, pedestrians are still interacting with the levels of car traffic that are typically generated around freeway exits (and that’s not to mention the cost of capping).
As I’m thinking about it, I think I’m mostly partial to an Atlantic alignment because I see BRT in Raleigh as an opportunity for placemaking and neighborhood building, and I think that works better along a corridor with a smaller footprint. Capital essentially functions as an urban canyon in its current state, and I don’t see that changing once it’s converted to a grade-separated freeway. So, even if we do manage to redevelop parcels along Capital, they still won’t really be connected to each other. Granted, that’s oftentimes how TOD works, but at least with Atlantic, you could redevelop all four corners of an intersection (like New Hope Church or Six Forks) and have it function as a single neighborhood, whereas with Capital, development east of the freeway is going to feel almost completely separate from development west of the freeway, save for the occasional bridge that will often double as a highway interchange.
Let’s throw in a couple hastily-edited images for funsies (note that I didn’t reference the actual NCDOT plans for this, so I have no clue where the on/off ramps are going to be or how much space they’re going to take up):
Plus, Atlantic is probably the quicker build (since we wouldn’t be waiting on an expressway conversion, which has already been pushed back at least a couple times), and, while it’ll likely be more expensive for the City, I expect it will use fewer taxpayer dollars overall. And who knows? Maybe we get super lucky and NCDOT opts to include a busway anyway, and boom, we have a local route via Atlantic and an express route via Capital (very pie-in-the-sky, but isn’t that what we do here anyway?).
