It looks like that now, yeah, but I don’t think it’s intended to be a shady developer handout so much as bureaucratic laziness.
Case in point: that route looks different from the right-of-way Veridea is setting aside, but it is a carbon copy of our region’s 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan from 2007. That plan has a light rail line that starts from that area, and Apex’s comprehensive plan implies that the commuter rail project blindly picked up the pieces of that plan when Wake County stopped pursuing light rail.
This draft plan just says what we vaguely want as a region and whether it’s financially feasible. It’s not an endorsement for that particular route. GoTriangle, NCRR, Norfolk Southern etc. will surely ask for a feasibility study when the Durham-Garner line’s a success. When that day comes, I’m sure we’ll give that hook more scrutiny. But until then, I don’t think it matters as much.