I mean…there are PLENTY of reasons to live West of Raleigh having nothing to do with RTP. Personally the longer I’m here, the more I love Cary, and able to be able to get to downtown Raleigh in 15 minutes’ drive. Between downtown Cary, the downtown park, and Fenton and now the new Waverly coming, I think I’ll be here forever instead of moving downtown Raleigh. I would not have felt that way just 2 years ago.
Don’t forget, 41% of folks in Cary work from home. The largest % of any city/town in the US. That and with as spread out as the Triangle is, there are a ton of people west of Raleigh who don’t need to get downtown Raleigh for work
I avoid Wade unless absolutely necessary. Personally, I think Glenwood or Western Blvd is DEFINITELY the best way to enter the Western side of Raleigh if you can’t zip over on 40/440 and get to much of that same area of West and Southwest Raleigh via Gorman from the South. If you look at maps pre-Interstate-40, such as the 1960 Raleigh road map it showed Western as being a major thoroughfare and Wade wasn’t even significant enough to even draw.
6 stop lights on Western get you to Pullen Park (8 puts you thru to downtown Raleigh South Saunders street exit). But 6 lights on Wade get you to Daniels, a lot less distance covered due to stop and go the whole length. If you really need to get to something near Daniels and Wade, for sure use Glenwood to avoid the blind turns and narrow lanes of Wade. Anything south of Wade, you can avoid all that mess coming up from the South (if headed that way isn’t going way out of your way). I do love the hilly rolling terrain driving Wade but it’s a horrendous drive with lanes way too narrow.
As busy as Western can be, it exceeds Wade’s lane count, and Wade never heard of turning lanes LOL (other than for the Cameron Village area junction)
How did all this stuff about Wade avenue get in the retail/restaurant topic? LOL