Megan Patton has voted against the Peace-West rezoning twice so far and she’s more like the edge of 540 than the edge of downtown.
I’m a little flummoxed as to why, considering the amount of apartments that have recently been completed north of 540 in her district.
Almost all of the Raleigh area’s new housing is in sprawling areas where people drive a lot (“high Vehicle Miles Traveled”), per a recent report from Berkeley’s Terner Center for housing research
That graph doesn’t pass the sniff test for me. Never has Raleigh had more attention to its walkable locations in my lifetime than it has in the last decade, yet the graph doesn’t seem to reflect that at all. I suppose that all that suburban growth in Apex, Wake Forest, Wendell, Clayton, etc. is just diluting the progress.
This graph may not be using the correct methodology.
With the opening of 540 southern and eastern legs, those red areas south and east of Raleigh will continue to increase for sure. Anyone who’s driven the New Hope Road & Rock Quarry corridors lately will see that map in action quite a bit. And that big red one south of town where Wake Tech is will just keep getting bigger in time, as Garner and Fuquay have annexed large pieces of old farmland near the new 540 intersection.
I feel like even if you are living downtown you are still driving “a lot.” Certainly, the vast majority of people living ITB are driving just as much as someone living in Cary or Morrisville.
That’s not true for me. I drive very little living downtown. I maybe use my car 2 times a week, and sometimes I don’t drive at all.
That said, I do think it’s possible to to have a car light existence living downtown or in other walkable locations.
you are the exception, not the rule…for most of us, car-free/car-light living is very difficult
I’m with John on this. When we lived DTR, we drove waaaay less than when I’ve lived anywhere else. Not even close to the same number of car trips. Perhaps we are also part of the exception.
There are over 1.2M people in Wake County and growing. I presume that there are more of us exceptions than you might think. Even if there is but a tiny 1% of us who are the exception, that’s still 12,000+ of us.
Yeah, I’d like to see that heatmap but for housing units, not just permits.
I know there’s still a ton of growth out in the 'burbs, but downtown really is a walkable community. Feels like every year I see more people walking, biking, busing around just living their life. It’s certainly not as desolate as I remember it being years ago when I was a kid.
If you live ITB in a purely residential area with a 25-minute walk to most destinations, frequent driving is inevitable. However, if you’re downtown, where a variety of restaurants, retail, and amenities are within a 15-minute walk, your reliance on a car is significantly reduced.
For the past 50+ years, planning has prioritized car-centric design, which is evident throughout Raleigh. The goal of urbanism is to create neighborhoods where most daily needs are met within close proximity, minimizing the need for driving. In suburban Raleigh, aside from visiting a neighbor, nearly every trip likely requires a car.
I’m all for urbanism and walkability but its nearly impossible to find unless you are significantly more wealthy than I am or don’t have kids. My point is that “walkable” Raleigh is miniscule and I think that graph shared by @paytonc is probably more accurate than some are willing to admit and doesn’t necessarily mean that all development is exurban sprawl. Most of ITB is probably in the mid to high VMT category.
There are clearly parts of downtown that are better positioned for walkability than others, and it’s why I keep hammering that the city should be prioritizing Glenwood South for walkable urbanism and more density. It’s already 15 minute walkable to the Village District, the Warehouse District, Five Points, and a sizable chunk of downtown proper. At least that’s true from where I am specifically and the pace of my walking.
As it stands now, the priority for it seems to be a few hours of late night partying on a few days a week. Just imagine the synergy between adding more housing and replacing the late night (only) businesses with ones that operate both daytime and nighttime. Glenwood is unfortunately dead during weekdays in particular. It’s pathetic.
For those who envision Glenwood being Raleigh’s 6th Street (Austin), I’d invite you to walk that street in the daytime and experience it. It’s crap: figuratively and literally. It’s also pee.
I pay particular attention to the sidewalk activity when I’m out and about during the weekdays. In addition to folks hanging out around Capital Towers, what I mostly see are folks walking to or from Publix. It’s encouraging to see that if folks are given somehwere to go with purpose, that they’ll put on their walking shoes and hit the sidewalks.
Just give us more reasons to walk please!
I agree, and some developers in Raleigh are actively working to address this issue.
One of my firm’s primary goals is to increase housing supply to help drive down costs. We are focused on delivering a diverse mix of housing types: walk-up units, elevator-access buildings, small and medium-sized residences, and mixed-use developments. While none of our projects will be single-family homes or townhouses, they will provide the density needed to support mass transit and sustain local retail. There are trade-offs, however - parking is less abundant, unit sizes may be smaller, and sound privacy is reduced, as living adjacent to neighbors means some noise transfer. Thoughtful design can help mitigate these challenges and I believe the benefits of urban living will drive its success moving forward
Ultimately, a neighborhood’s success depends on collective effort. While developers construct the buildings, residents, future tenants, business owners, government entities, and visitors all play a role in ensuring these projects thrive. If new units remain vacant, businesses are hesitant to invest, or government policies hinder progress—whether through safety concerns or regulatory obstacles, the momentum stalls, and future viability becomes uncertain.
100% agree on this. Even if there was a walkable Target, Walmart, or grocery store, who other than a single person or a couple is going to CARRY home all the stuff they need or buy at one of those types of stores. Bags of diapers, paper towels, shampoo, food? Sorry, it’s not gonna be practical for like 90 % of people to ditch their car and just walk down the street to the “bodega” and buy stuff to tote home. Let alone paying double the price as a larger chain store. That’s why there are 2-car garages and SUVs.
I’m all for it if that’s your thing, just saying I agree with Phil. Big supporter of the idea, but isn’t very realistic for most of Raleigh’s population, which is not represented by the people active on this site.
Also, this graph shows the trend line for Raleigh and the US sloping down now (not as steeply for Raleigh vs the country as a whole, but still down) Isn’t that a good thing for those who want there to be less car driving? Isn’t that progress?
I’ve lived exclusively in walkable areas since 2001, and loosely walkable since 1996. I can tell you that people who walk to grocery stores have different shopping habits than those who drive. In general, we go more frequently and buy fewer things per trip. There are also different ways that people deal with buying more than they can carry. Some have soft sided expandable wagons they pull. Some cycle with panniers, while others bring a backpack. I’ve seen it all. Personally I use this when I buy more than I carry.
People adapt to their environments and adopt new behaviors, rituals, and solutions. Nobody is claiming that it’s a realistic option for most people, but why can’t it be a supported viable option for even 5% of the population? If Raleigh wants the tax revenue from having 25,000 or more people living in its core, it better get with the program that will allow it to more effectively happen without always having to add everyone’s car to the roads: everytime for everything.
Just in my part of North Raleigh, they’ve built 963 units in the last year, year and a half, in three developments. North of 540 between Capital and Falls. We don’t even appear as a warm spot on that heat map.
