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.
Cross-posting from the Heritage Park thread since there’s a relevant update:
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Seems like the gondola idea is gaining some momentum, with the DRA now openly advertising its possibility. Lambert-Melton also voicing his support on social media.
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There’d better be an onboard Xanax dispenser.
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The DRA’s website has slightly more information, and also has a link where you can buy tickets for them. This talk, in particular, will start at 1:45pm of Aug. 28 (Thu).
…slightly more information.
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It seems like recently the wording they’ve used seems to shift to a greenway / possibly pedestrian bridge connection instead of gondola. (don’t think landscape design is a crucial component for a gondola) Guess we’ll see in 2 weeks.
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A gondola would have higher ongoing operational costs.
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While it’s a sexy thing, it’s expensive and low capacity. I’d rather see $ spent elsewhere by making the on-the-ground experience better between the park and downtown.
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Gondola or nothing. No other idea comes close and it’s the single best idea I’ve ever heard coming out of the city in the 20 years I’ve lived here. Would instantly be the most iconic thing in the Triangle if not the entire state. It’s the type of the thing would be on the back of those state centric quarters they did for awhile.
I reject any and all pushback on it and will be a single issue voter going forward while calling for banning posters on the forum who expresses even modest criticism of it.
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There is no denying a gondola would be a cool, novel thing to have in downtown but in reality, I think most people who live/work in the area might go on it a time or two and thats it. I agree that improving the on the ground experience would provide something people who live nearby could realistically benefit from every day.
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I’m with this. If Raleigh built this gondola it would quickly be hard to imagine the city without it.
Given the significance of the park, this isn’t an either/or situation. There should also be ground street level ways to get from Downtown to Dix. But that’s not what people will think of when they think of Raleigh, they’ll think of the park city they explored through the sky.
Let’s make it happen
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no shade, but maybe we shouldn’t be putting our initials on AI art
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John what is our sexy thing then? In fact what differentiates Raleigh at all? Shit, what’s one thing someone who has never been here before would be super thrilled to see that they can’t see in their hometown?
I’m not hating, hear me out, this is just the truth. I tout the non-existence of downtown freeways and our top tier livability. And Dix Park will soon be worth coming here to see on its own. I absolutely love it here and think Raleigh’s the best city in America. I’ve been to all of the major and mid-major cities.
We absolutely lack that one really cool thing. If it’s not a gondola, I haven’t heard any other ideas that would provide the same wow factor. I’m listening, but I haven’t heard them. If you think it’s a pedestrian bridge, there are probably 30 cities in the US with cool looking downtown pedestrian bridges. That’s not it, no matter how neat and expensive ours would be. Obviously the ground connection would be enhanced along with the gondola. Y’all pushing back on this is just counterproductive. The gondola isn’t a joke.
I didn’t ride it in Portland, but we all know theirs is active and utilized. And Disney World has a new gondola. Those are the examples in the US. So yeah, a downtown to major park gondola would be a first of its kind and I truly believe people would come from all over to experience it. The timing would work out with the opening of future phases of Dix, and we’d all look back thinking it was the best decision Raleigh ever made. I hope we get there.
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I love the eye roll reactions. I don’t think people actually understand what this would do for Raleigh that almost nothing else could. You’re really not far off in estimating the impact, IMO.
This is a tourism play to me, so I wouldn’t mind if most locals didn’t care to ride it much (probably out of spite, kicking themselves), but they would ride it lol. There’s going to be a fine ground connection no matter what so I think that’s wasted energy. These projects will already do a lot of the heavy lifting for that connection and they’re happening: Chavis-Dix Strollway, Lake Wheeler Rd project to Heritage Park, Heritage Park redevelopment, new RHA/RCC expansion, Lenoir St woonerf, & West St tunnel.
Everyone please get on board or propose a better idea. Not a walkway or bridge or tower, an actual better idea than a gondola that would truly differentiate our city.
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Tools don’t own art - the artist does. AI is a different kind of brush.
- untalented artist