That’s not the same thing. South Boulevard just continues over it but the contiguous development isn’t interrupted on either side. DTS has serious challenges to feel connected at all. They aren’t impossible to overcome, just really, really difficult.
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Downtown Raleigh has roughly around 11,000 people living there. Pretty much all the rest of us million plus people in Wake County enjoy the suburban life. There is no hurt whatsoever. It is what we want.
No, they have no choice. Anywhere from 11,000 people to 1 million people in Wake County could ‘want’ to live in an urban space and it would look no different. The supply of urban housing has never been close to parity with demand for the region. I’ve lived in suburban places most of my life and never enjoyed it.
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I am guessing that you must think the developers and builders have no clue then what people want. Or do they? Still mostly building apartments and very few condos. I have worked downtown Raleigh for 19 years and I would not want to live there although I do enjoy working there.
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I own 2 condos downtown and have lived downtown since 2011. I absolutely love it and would never go back to a suburban home. DTR is lovely with new and old buildings and tree lined streets and many walkable streets and parks. It feels like a city and a small town all at the same time. Love it better than anywhere else I’ve lived.
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(NOT MEANT TO REPLY TO TEDF…THIS IS FOR VATNOS)
but i dont know how to change it
if there is a need or a market, someone emerges to fill the need. That’s how private development works.
It’d be NICE to have more options to purchase high rise condos or any type of dense condos downtown other than the townhouse style real-estate-intensive offerings that exist now. If there was more of a chance for investors who pay for the downtown housing to get built, to earn a return on their investment, then they would. Or better said WHEN there is a better chance to get a return, they WILL. It’s happening in downtown Cary with the million dollar rooftop patio condos overlooking the new city park.
If people wanted to be downtown badly enough, they’d go live in what ever is on the market downtown, whether it’s apartments or houses or townhouses. The offerings perhaps haven’t “caught up” to the demand, but I agree with TedF the developers and builders know things that we don’t know. It’s like road design and transit things. For MOST of us, this is a hobby. Very few of us actually have income dependent on being right about our ideas to develop downtown or reduce sprawl.
It’s reasonable to conclude that there’s less risk to make decent money by offering what is currently being offered. Till that changes, that’s what we’ve got.
Interestingly, the NC State economist that was interviewed on the WRAL announcement about Apple’s new RTP campus said that the 3000 new Apple employees that will move here* to work for Apple will likely spread out when they choose their residence rather than concentrate in any one place…Partly due to RTP being RTP and having so much land available to build houses on out there near RTP in Western Wake, and partly due to COVID WFH new way of working. I think he’s right, Apple won’t create density, just more people and more sprawl…>That Apple will expand the Triangle “outward”. about 1:15 on the clip. Economist: Apple campus will attract more companies to Triangle :: WRAL.com
*(or replace those Apple steals from local companies who already have them here)
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Here’s a good new video about parking.
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interesting video on parking. But they lost me when they compared American cities to Amsterdam and bikes there. A city settled 600 years before NYC and built on a network of interconnected canals is OF COURSE going to work better with bikes instead of cars.
“Unfortunately there are still advocates for outdated parking garages and advocates for not changing the status quo.” That’s a real line in the video at 8:10 in the timeline. This video (and some of the ideas in this thread) seems like a religion more than a discussion, and you have to “believe.” Skeptic here. Would love to see videos that debate these points, because clearly not everyone agrees. Was still an interesting video to watch, thanks for sharing.
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I think that what happens is that those who rely on their cars feel threatened and are immediately defensive when there’s any conversation whatsoever about changing how we deal with cars in our environment. Remember that when all legacy American cities were founded, they do were done so without cars being in the equation.
Putting goals and north stars out there doesn’t mean that all cars go away overnight. That’s logistically impossible. I have a car, but I also use it far less than I did 20 years ago. I have made very specific decisions to lessen my dependence on its use and now only drive about 2500 miles a year total. Now, that is just me, but I suspect that many people can reduce their miles driven, even if it’s not to the level that I’ve achieved for myself.
As for the “religion” thing, might I suggest that cars themselves can also be seen a religion in this country? That said, I do think that there’s oftentimes too much desire to push harder on something, rather than addressing change incrementally. This often threatens people who say that they don’t want any change in their lives. The irony is that people are constantly having change in their lives, it’s just done more organically and they are able to handle it. If we want people to drive less, we have to set the context for that to happen. It’s not something that can be wished into existence. We have to build our cities to allow for the change. We then have to let people experience that change, and let them decide for themselves if they like it or not. Some will like it, and others won’t.
Finally, building our city centers to shift prioritization toward the pedestrians won’t eliminate cars altogether. There are still cars in Manhattan after all. Nobody’s “coming for your car” or anything like that. However, prioritization of everyone’s car shouldn’t take precedence over the experiences of those who live in a community. Urban dwellers often pay higher taxes per square ft on their RE, demand less services from the city by living vertically, and often subsidize through their taxes the aging infrastructure in suburban parts of the city.
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I live in a neighborhood sandwiched between Six Forks and FoN. Been here 15 years…
One of the reasons that I chose it, (beyond the fact that it had 50 year old hardwoods shading the yards unlike the razed landscapes of the exurbs for similar investment) was that it was the quintessential ‘20 mins from everywhere’ spot by car in town PLUS I could walk (in 15 mins) to a couple grocery stores, shopping and dining. I feel very thankful that we leaned into it versus Ten Ten Rd or Kildaire Farm or other things in ‘our range’.
Over the past few years, bike lanes have been installed around and the greenway is creeping ever closer to the connectivity that might allow me to shelve a car. I say might. I love my car when I want to use it but I’m enriched by the slower pace and greater awareness when I don’t. I’m not saying my story is yours, as it’s never the case, but I’m just saying it seems we all benefit from passing our neighbors at a slower pace (on foot / bike / skates) on the way somewhere as opposed to at a faster pace…Sidewalks, bike lanes, transit all put us closer to our neighbors.
Just one perspective from the 'burbs…
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The RDOT and NCDOT need to consider creating multiple HOV lanes on all of the major highways to help mitigate traffic.
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All the major corridors have Express lanes planned. The type of variation is TBD but probably leaning toward HOT.
If you have 3+ occupants you ride for free
If you have less you pay toll
The big key is having dedicated access ramps. Looking at the CAMPO plan there could be some. If not, it almost defeats the whole purpose because of the complete weaving movement that has to be made.
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That sounds nice and all, but how will it be enforced? Are there actual toll gates or is it the license plate-based system that most toll roads around here use?
License plate and the honor system (yea I know lol)
How it works in Charlotte is you have a switch on your transponder or your app that you can flip between HOT and single user. To my knowledge (I could be wrong) the scanners can’t technically tell if you have occupants.
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Think that’s the same for that portion of 540
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540 is a fully “express” highway. No free option for any users. These express lanes would still have the main lanes of the highway being free.
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Figured this is the best thread for this:
I touched on it in another thread a couple of minutes ago but wanted to expand my thoughts and see if anyone else had some insight.
One of my main reasons for choosing Wendell Falls over something ITB (other than price of course haha) was the level of walkability I’m enjoying out here vs many locations ITB.
It got me wondering, is there a database or has someone mapped out all the neighborhood retail centers (could be plazas, Downtown itself, corner cafes, corner stores etc) within the Beltline? I’d like to make an interactive map that shows all the locations ITB that aren’t walkable (maybe 1/4 or 1/2 mile from closest shopping and dining)
I feel a big area for growth for Raleigh would be having more neighborhood centers, even if it’s just a corner store, little cafe.
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Check the https://downtownraleigh.org/ website. The DRA has a good amount of info but it may not extend to the areas you’re talking about.
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The Walk Score Heat Map is a good place to start. Not sure how to embed it here, but it’s the map right underneath the headline “Raleigh is a Car-Dependent city”:
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Good quick video on NIMBYism that focuses mostly on San Francisco.
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