Adding traffic lights and crosswalks is a win-win-win here.
Win 1: pedestrian connectivity
Win 2: costs a LOT less than a bridge
Win 3: Slows down traffic
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Not if it dimensionally doesn’t fit while meeting code. I know there are ADA advocates on the forum here, for great reason, but accessibility codes often make things like this very difficult (maximum slope, etc)
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imo y’all are saying the same thing.
“Constraints make it difficult” is just engineering speak for “costs too much”
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My issue with the cost aspect now is that sure, a crosswalk would be cheaper, but a marquee footbridge over the road, lit up at night like the American Tobacco trail bridge or similar–that marks a DESTINATION. It would pay off so well for them to pony up the money to make a feature like that.
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Atlantic already drops lanes about a half mile from this intersection and then turns into two lanes with bike lanes and a center turn lane about 2/3 of a mile from this intersection. It really shouldnt make that much difference to traffic. They could keep the extra lanes at the Capital Blvd interchange if needed.
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I’d be all for this.
Agreed. I had considered moving to the apartments off Atlantic. The lack of biking infrastructure was the deal breaker for me (I live right off the greenway). The greenway is there by Atlantic, but a connection to downtown is lacking.
There’s no bike lanes on Wake Forest Rd or Capital Blvd. We should look to put at least some type of biking infrastructure that runs North/South from this side of town.
5 lanes on Wake Forest Rd (South of Six Forks Rd), 4 currently on Atlantic, and 6-8 on Capital, surely we can sacrifice 1 lane for a multi-use path. With the Atlantic Avenue Improvement project in place, which includes a shared use path, it makes complete sense to continue to put a Multi-use path down the rest of Atlantic.
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You said the death phrase there my friend. Few people are ever willing to sacrifice anything!
Taking a lane out of Wake Forest would just get it down to normal width for cars.
You point out one of the key issues here - the hodge podge of phase(d) planning…
The multi-use path on Atlantic starts at New Hope and will stop at Wolfpack.
Simply can’t believe there’s no intent / plan to continue that / connect into the greenway access at Hodges and down to the bike lanes coming out of Mordecai (that terminate over the bridge just before RIW). Mind boggling…
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I think a better option for connecting that side of town to downtown would be a pedestrian / bikes bridge above capital Blvd/railroad to connect Blount st to Carson st.
You are already on neighborhood streets on both sides and not stroads.
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Every time I go by the East End Market site, I’m struck with how big it is. Looking forward to Phase 2 but man, wish they weren’t filling the site 100% with buildings and pavement - especially since that’s already the case for Loading Dock and Iron Works. Really feel like they need some open space / placemaking like other neo-urban developments (North Hills East, Fenton).
Here’s an idea to add a half acre plaza. Take some of the lost residential and add it to the top of the SW corner tower, re-program 1 or 2 of the office levels to parking. Do 1 level of underground parking spanning below the plaza and 7-floor apartment building to maximize the number of units in that building.
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Is there any movement on Phase 2 beyond “when the office market recovers”?
Not that I’ve seen, and I was just coming here to say that the way things are going I’d bet that this is bound for an eventual redesign. Although for the reasons below I don’t think it would get less dense unless the other portions were scaled way back. I’m a little surprised that the multifamily portion hasn’t made any progress since it appears completely independent from the office portion, although maybe I’m just guessing and talking out of my ass.
What I think is probably going on is that this whole project was underwritten on the basis of low low interest rates and some assumption that property values and rents would continue going up. Because that’s what they do, number go up.
So now it’s stuck in limbo until their thin margins can pan back out. But tbf that’s like, half of the projects right now
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The residential portion was tied in to the office portion, one of the resi buildings had parking that served the office tower.
i finally got to see some of RIW in a more completed state 2 weeks ago. amazing what they can do. that area will likely be a nice outside of downtown retail , entertainment and dining node.
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This could be really nice as a mid density neighborhood with small apartment buildings 3-5 stories and Iron Works/ East end market being the commercial centers with some taller 10-20 story towers.
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I’m sure Grubb wouldn’t mind if that’s how things turned out working east along interior CapBoully and up towards Hodges / Industrial…
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Even push it up to 11 like the Peach Raleigh Apartments. It would be a prime location for apartment/condo housing all in this area. Less than 3 miles to downtown, right on the greenway, 1 mile to Wegmans, and would complement the future St. Alban’s plan.
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Just saw an email that it sounds like the Five Points/Hayes Barton group that was fighting the townhomes won in Wake County Superior Court against the City & the developer.
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Well, the house that’s there is beautiful. If we can’t have more density, hopefully someone with personal wealth can restore it (I hear it needs a LOT of work).
Worst case, we get three boring McMansions, aka the worst of both worlds.
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I am sure the house is coming down but hopefully replaced with 2-3 new homes. The ‘missing middle’ is a good concept…but just allowing someone to slap up a bunch of townhomes in the center of a SFH neighborhood that is as close to ‘historic’ as you get in Raleigh is not the way to do it. Brier Creek & the suburban hoods will never have to be exposed to this kind of situation because they have homeowners associations that explicitly prevent the City from enacting such a policy. Raleigh’s limited ‘historic-ish’ neighborhoods lack those protections (aside from Oakwood). This kind of policy without any common sense curbs will decimate places like 5 Points.
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