I wonder if anyone has thought to do a public-private partnership to just pay for such a thing, public funding be damned? Something like what @evan.j.bost suggested in the greenway thread sounds to me like a pretty low-risk investment (that’s a crippling concern for investors, apparently?) that could even double as commercial real estate or a prominent site for a “Welcome to Raleigh” showstopper.
Then again...
…the review paper in the link above suggests that –despite what all of y’all “classic” (neoliberal) free market-lovers think– private investors don’t seem to be the most rational actors of all time in this space:
TL/DR: private investors say they want to make money predictably and smartly, but they just pass the blame around when they could put in the effort to ensure success.