Downtown-Dix Park Connection

Planning DTRaleigh
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This is sort of how things went for George Kaiser and the Kaiser Family Foundation in the development of The Gathering Place in Tulsa.

Good NYT article on the park and how it hopes to right some horrendous wrongs.

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I’m going to resurrect this topic and broaden it to be about the connection between downtown and Dix. I’m starting to read this post from Raleigh Magazine. This rendering looks great and I love the idea of completely overhauling the MLK/Saunders interchange. Let’s overhaul that thing and free up the land for urban development.

Read more about it here: https://raleighmag.com/2024/04/big-ideas/

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Eliminating this bridge and making it an at-grade intersection has about as much chance of happening as dropping the Capital/Peace bridge. That is to say, almost none. And given the state of traffic in this state and country, hoping for an Amsterdam-style re-imagining of, essentially, a freeway interchange, into a pleasant at-grade, all-modes experience here is a pipe dream.

HOWEVER.

Dreaming big is a good thing as it sets a long term goal and helps us plot steps in that direction.

I would focus on this: Make it much better than it is.

  • get rid of unnecessary loop ramps.
  • integrate it better with the street grid.
  • include pedestrian facilities (there are none today)

Furthermore, do better than they did with the Capital/Peace rebuild, by not repeating some of the mistakes, like:

  • the awful painted-line-only bike lanes
  • crosswalks across high speed right turn ramps with only a yield sign to protect pedestrians
  • the free flowing right turn at Johnson and Harrington (later updated with a stop sign)
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The Downtown Mobility Study kicked off late last month. This is about improving active transportation and connectivity downtown and will include (I’m told) the proposed Chavis-Dix strollway.

The first public touchpoint is May 29th at Union Station from 4-7pm. This will be a drop-in style event. Be prepared to provide feedback on what you want/don’t want. There will also be an associated online survey.

@dtraleigh feel free to move this or share elsewhere.

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Thanks for sharing. Lots of thoughts here, I don’t know where to start!

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That’s an urban touch to that area. It isn’t a far walk from downtown.