Also, is this for DTR or ALL of Raleigh in general?
Apologies if this was already stated somewhere that I am not reading?
And my thanks to you and everyone for this great idea! 
If the southern and northern segments could be named independently, maybe the southern portion could be “The Dixway”. Not sure about the northern half though. Naming something that heads from Five Points to Downtown with a reference to Dix seems - well - not quite right, I suppose.
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If it connects to Pullen-Dix it should be called ‘the Shaft’.
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That’s the hope, anyway! Thanks for the map.
Thanks for illustrating how, together with Big Branch, this corridor extends to North Hills as well.
Likewise on the southern end, a connection to Lake Benson is also conceivable, by following a tributary of Swift Creek, starting in the vicinity of Garner Station.
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What about playing with the word filament, as in “The Filament”? It speaks to the connecting nature of the trails themselves, while relating to both technology industries in our present, and the history of our textile industry in the past.
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Looking at that map, it’s hard to picture a well-functioning system without that central connection.
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There’s lots of potential words we can put together, plenty with positive emotional connotations, plenty that reference our history (textiles etc) or our present (tech, biotech, higher ed, etc), or geographical features, or points of interest, or the railroad… many with double or triple meanings across several of those categories, and yet I can’t think of a way to put them together that gives a visceral “this is it” feeling for me.
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That’s probably why Rail Trail should win because Raleigh is pretty-straight-forward…
Maybe the tweak is simple : RAiLtrail…
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Or similarly, The RALine
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Let me just say I love this whole idea and plan. What to call it? I have no clue.
How about something along the lines of…
Acorn Trail
Oak Trail
Squirrel Express
Just spit balling…
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If enough people like any of those ideas, I can edit the post that my poll is in so that it mentions it!
…but… just to play devil’s advocate, most attempts at branding don’t start with a name that people love right off the bat; that is common sense for people in marketing and entrepreneurship.
What you see on the surface is only half the equation, anyways. Nike’s obscure Greek mythology reference, short slogan, and swoosh logo meant nothing when they were first put on paper, and the Atlanta Belt Line probably just sounded like someone butchered the Atlanta beltway at first. These things only pack a punch today because people gave those names and ideas meaning.
If I had to bet money, I think that’s a more realistic route for this project. In that light, I wouldn’t worry too much about trying to pack the name with a million metaphors. …especially if that effort could be better used to get the design and execution right.
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Good points. I’m no marketing guy that’s for sure.
Of the ones you listed I voted for AxisRaleigh.
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Same, it’s short and catchy and clean
Seeing it all on a map like this it really presents it as a no brainer. Right now the two main greenways near downtown both run in the same northwest - southeast direction. Crabtree and Rocky Branch. With no way to get between them in a N-S type direction. this would really connect the dots and can take the greenway system from a mainly recreational usage, to add more commiting alternative.
And for a more selfish reason, I live near North Hills area, so this would allow me to esentaily ride my bike downtown all on the greenway, in maybe 20 minutes or so (barely longer then it takes by car) especially in rush hour. right now I could do it, but fighting cars the entire time. Either down Wake forest or Lassiter/St. Mary’s corridor. While one is way more scenic, neither are pleasant traffic wise for biking.
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Raleigh ARTery? Imagine a serious focus on art installations of various mediums through the corridor. Just a thought.
Need a more appropriate aerial shot. Just took this one from my session yesterday.
Ps, this is basically @dbearhugnc’s idea with the heart but I look at the map and see the 440 belt line as a heart and the rail trail as the artery. 
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Actually this is very good. Simple, yet to the point.
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I would vote for this option, specifically the ARTery part - perhaps getting Raleigh Murals and/or NCMA to possibly both sign off / vocalize support would increase impact. Nice work to the folks fostering this along!
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Brilliant. ARTery is the best one yet.
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Still visualizing how things would connect from the south to the north through the gulch. There might be an interval where riders/walkers would end up using the in-place street grid of Boylan, Morgan, West streets to bridge the gap. And, it may have to be an accepted interim solution until all of the rail components get done.
Anything structural wouldn’t require as much engineering as a vehicular bridge. I’m specifically thinking about the recently proposed Queens Ribbon into Manhattan…
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