The renderings from the plan look great, but curious about how much of a “main street” Industrial Dr. can be with the Costco right there.
In any case, I’m excited to see this area repurposed a bit.
Pg 153 still shows the Costco in the plan. Even if they showed something different, I wouldn’t expect any of the plan to really be started for about 5 years. 
it’s sooner.
Sadly there is a Six Forks Rd Pedestrian Bridge across Dartmouth Rd in the plans. I say sadly because it’s not listed as a bike and pedestrian bridge. The pedestrian-bike only bridge is a “Medium priority” for 3-7 or 7+ years according to page 166. It looks like St. Albans is going to be a 4 lane avenue 
. Hopefully that changes.
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Replacement bridge that’s waiting be be put in place across Mine Creek at the intersection of Crabtree Creek Trail and Ironwood Trail
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Successfully bike-commuted this morning - SW Raleigh to DT Cary in 48 mins. This is only 30 mins longer than driving.
New to me, there is a greenway connection from Trailwood Dr. to the portion of Walnut Creek trail that goes around Lake Raleigh. These little connection make a huge impact by avoiding mixing with traffic, even for a short distance. That section is highlighted here:
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I commute on my e-bike from SE Raleigh to Cary by Umstead. The Greenway connections, when there aren’t closures, allow for a route that’s almost entirely free from cars. How safe is the ride on Hillsborough and E Chatham? When I lived in Cary Chatham never felt like a nice road to bike on, but there’s not really an alternative route.
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Awesome!! An E-bike is probably a game changer.
The worst part is closer to the intersection with Athens Dr. where more complexity mixes with 1-way portion of road and no center turn lane. The majority of that long stretch is 2 lane + center turn lane so there’s plenty of pavement for cars to swerve around bikers. I did have a school bus pass me within touching distance…
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I really hope ebikes encourage more people to start bicycle commuting. I still use pedal power but I’m not commuting all that, from Walnut Creek Wetland Center area to NCSU. I’ve been riding that since 2014 and I’ve too often felt like I was the only commuter around. Finally started seeing one or two other commuters around 2019 or so. But man with an ebike you don’t have to worry about arriving all sweaty and gross. I don’t know what the critical mass is for number of cycle commuters before cities and planners and politicians start taking the idea of cycle commuting seriously, but I hope we’re closing in on it. As for me, I just took a job that is barely a mile from the house and an 8-minute bike ride, so I’m going to have to start looping twice around my neighborhood to even get my heartrate up before I arrive at work. It’s going to be sweet.
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I did the ride on my road bike once, and it’s definitely doable, but yeah, ebikes are the future in my opinion. Still get the exercise, while flattening hills. Usually it’s cooler than walking in the sun, too. The only issue is the nearly constant greenway closures we’ve had recently, without any real detour, as well as the few corners in Raleigh where it’s nearly impossible to bike safely. I’ll bike on the road, but it’s a pretty different route to switch from the walnut creek greenway to biking through downtown.
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Well done. I’d be worried about Hillsborough St. West of Athens Dr. I’ve been down Athens’s Drive on a regular bike. I completely understand the craziness there.
Yes indeed. We fortunately have an outdoor shower at our new office (small family biz). Showering and putting fresh clothes on after that ride was amazing - great start to the work day.
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Pulling on about ebikes. I bought a level 3 one for a commute front seat Raleigh to the Southwest side of Lake Johnson.
It took a 55 min ride down to 35min. One area I actually found good time savings was on Avent Ferry where you showed the cut through highlighter. I would cross Agent at a light. Then going 25mph plus on a level 3 bike you can really make up some time there where you end up turning right. I turned right on Athens Dr. So a little dif. But I bet you would take 20 min off the ride which is 40min a day.
Avent Ferry on a regular bike is a huge nope though. Nope nope nope.
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if you have a decent low conflict route an ebike can make it less sweaty and fun.
Which one did you get? I have one that assists up to 20MPH (class 1). So far it’s pulled about 10 minutes off my commute so I can get to work in about 27-33 mins (6.5 miles shortest route/8.2 miles 80% greenway route). Sometimes lights make a difference.
Way faster than when I used a bus (55 mins to 1 hour including walking to/from bus).
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i have a radpower model…they generally stay around 1800 bucks usd and using one battery with no pedaling on flattish ground is near 30 miles of range…if you pedal it is greatly extended. my particular brand had a video on youtube that shows a button pressing program to raise the battery assist to 23 mph which i have done. it has a throttle which i use at intersections for taking off and after that i like to pedal with some assist. i have probably carried 40 pound loads on mine and ho hummed back home from lowes or kroger…in roanoke va. roanoke changed its laws about 2 years ago to permit ebikes on their greenways.
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I bought a Juiced Bikes Crosscurrent as my first e-bike because I needed it to do a 10 mile bike commute and I wanted to get there as fast as possible.
My wife liked it so much that I ended up getting a Rad City Step through for her. The juiced takes what Rad does to another level. Consistentaly you can do about 5mph more than the Rad. Then on the slightly downhills you can stay around 30mph and on hills with the throttle you can stay at 20mph no matter how steep. Most people don’t need this, but if you have a longerish commute I think it is worth it to cut time. Also if you end up on some roads where traffic is a little faster it really helps to go a little faster yourself.
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It looks like there is one left of the older model (maybe what I have) at $300 off. Best Commuter Electric Bike | CrossCurrent X | Juiced Bikes
And this one goes even faster, but isn’t as much of a “bike”
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I’m an ebike commuter convert!! I live close to work but have some serious hills to navigate and hated showing up to work already gross so I never rode my bike. Got an ebike and BOOM it’s been great. A benefit I wasn’t expecting is the added boost in the traffic circles; a little extra juice helps me get going and honestly feels a bit safer. It’s great!
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If drivers in Raleigh have problems with regular cyclists, they will have much bigger problems with people on e-bikes since they go much faster on an uphill or flat (though I flew past someone on an e-bike in my neighborhood a few weeks ago on my road bike - just depends on the type of road you’re on/traffic/etc). I’ve seen some people being pretty reckless on them and drivers are not accustomed to seeing a person appear that quickly on a bike. Also most of the bikes seem to be black and the riders are not usually wearing bright gear.
All of you seem like you’ve converted from road bikes to e-bikes so you know how to ride a bike, but I think the problem comes in when it’s someone who just gets one as a new fad and then goes too fast or isn’t familiar with how to ride a bike on the roads in a city. Bikers have a responsibility to be safe, just like the drivers. I predict issues with this mixing of e-bikes and cars…
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I like showering and putting on clean clothes, and then driving in my air conditioned car listening to music to my job in 15 minutes. Not on the greenway though.
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Hey Jeff, mutual respect! As long as you watch out for cyclists while driving (something I’m actively working on - it’s not always top of mind), that is all Gucci.
The best part of biking to work yesterday was feeling totally justified in eating extra food throughout the day haha. (compensatory behavior)
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