That looks pretty similar to the green line from my map above. I think that one is a bit more impactful, though, and here are the impacts that IMO put it in a different category from the yellow line.
- It threads the needle between a cemetery, a funeral home, and a church, risking impacts to one or more of them. These are the sorts of impacts that tend to get red-flagged during environmental studies.
- It requires rebuilding the S. Saunders/S. Wilmington interchange which is a very busy junction. Phasing these sorts of things are costly. Maybe they could nix the interchange and just bring it to an at-grade intersection, though, like they did with Hillsborough/Western near Jones Franklin.
- It impacts a large number of X-plexes (4-plexes?) along Peach Road which are quite affordable.
- I think it would potentially cut through a public park near Peach Road Community Center, near where it would cross a future connection of Ileagnes Rd.
But there are benefits:
- It is the shortest connection
- It bypasses another grade crossing (Carolina Pines Ave)
- It abandons a longer stretch of the NS line.
- Doesn’t touch Kane’s property
Because of benefit #4, this is probably the only realistic alternative if Kane declines to play ball, and nobody has the appetite to force him. Forcing might be easier than you’d think, though, because there is leverage: the rezoning process (carrot- it’s only zoned IX-3 now) and threat of eminent domain (stick: without rezoning, they could condemn and force a sale at a cost only assuming existing zoning).