I wish that Raleigh had this rooftop parking garage park (they still could one day… ) Thanks to Leo for this glimpse into the past…
https://dtraleigh.com/2017/05/the-rooftop-park-that-never-came-to-be/
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I would like a Hovenring at the I-40 & Lake Wheeler Road interchange:
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And put a huge pole in the centre of the intersection?! That would pose an enormous risk to driver safety.
/s
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They do something like this in Finland, but they suppress the walking/biking paths under the road and the opening of the ring is open land within that walking/biking underpass.
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Ooooh, good point. I didn’t think of that. It would probably also destroy the “character” of the neighborhood by making it less car-friendly.
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First time in Austin and I’m not that amazed by it as a city. It feels like a flat San Diego/Los Angeles with poorer weather. Definitely has a West coast feel even though it’s in the middle. It’s probably good our city is growing slower than other popular cities. The small town feel of DTR is a key feature of Raleigh that I think a couple of super tall buildings won’t change. I think it might have to do with our city’s lack of vision and importance that has kept this city is a nice position. Failing upwards!
That being said I wish DTR had a better party street than Glenwood South. Maybe we can make one that leads to the future soccer stadium. 
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I agree on Austin - did not live up to the hype when I visited.
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I was there 3 times in the last 18 months. I too am not impressed. If you have to be in the burbs, it’s a freaking nightmare. Also, the heat in the Summer is insane. It’s way hotter than Raleigh and the Sun is searing. I lived in Houston in the early nineties, and I thought that it was a shit hole. I couldn’t stand that place and suburban Austin is beginning to feel just like it.
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How about this…?
https://media12.s-nbcnews.com/i/MSNBC/Components/Video/201903/nn_gsc_vessel_hudson_yards_190315_1920x1080.jpg
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I was talking to my grandfather who lives in Pittsburgh and he was talking about how the city plans to built this tourist hit stop area with a Ferris Wheel and a zip line coming into it from Mount Washington. I was thinking the Raleigh could put in a zip line from Dix Park right into downtown.
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How about Meow Wolf?
It’s an art collective that maintains and upgrades an indoor mall area as an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ style exhibit. The original is in Santa Fe, but it is expanding to Denver and Las Vegas.
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Connect all the lakes and water ways through a series of canals and civilian self-service locks. Maybe have one of those canals go through DTR. Imagine kayaking to work.
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Have a couple dedicated bike routes that lead into downtown. They can be on a combination of existing greenways and the partial closing of some streets if need be. Set up parking areas for bikes at a couple points downtown where people drop off the bike and walk the last 1km. I’m picturing scenes from Japan near railway stations where there are thousands of parked bikes in a small area 
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Pipe dream, but I’d love to be able to bike to work and there’s no way I will ever compete with cars on some of these freeway like city streets.
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How about a Disney-like monorail system or elevated train like Chicago only modern in appearance to connect different areas of downtown, Cameron Village, North Hills, Caraleigh Stadium area, etc?
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Fortnight Center (virtual amusement center)
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I have been shouting “Monorail” for years. Glad to know I’m not alone out here. 
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Miami has a really good example (of sorts) of one of these automated, “lightweight” type systems with its MetroMover. Raleigh could definitely improve upon this model with something even lighter and modern.
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In the realm of reasonable. Since we host a lot of events on Fayetteville Street can we get retractable street bollards so when don’t have to have dump trucks blocking the roads? They’re actually pretty cheap and you can go even cheaper if you use removal bollards. Typically under $1,000 per vehicle defeat rated bollards and whatever installation would cost.
I assume paying city workers to sleep in dump trucks all day isn’t cheap. It will pay off in less than a season.
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Aren’t there removable bollards in the city plaza part of Fayetteville Street already. Don’t they have little oak leaf toppers on them? Couldn’t that just be replicated from end to end to close off how many blocks are needed for an event?
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