@OakCityDylan God some people just ask the most ridiculous questions.
Thanks for the report and doing the good work!
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The SEHSR platform is to be located at the north leg of the Boylan wye with another platform extended from RUS.
With Norfolk Southern’s decision to close their Glenwood Yard, it resurrects the possibility of revisiting their Section V - NC3 option to RUS.
And, it would be far cheaper than the flyover structure proposed in Section V - NC5 (with less impact on the future park at Devereux Meadow)
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It certainly be interesting what will happen. The cheapest options will likely be chosen. I would have love to see the Union Station transformed into a Y shaped multi-floored transportation super hub.
Imagine connecting high speed intercity trains, regional commuter rail, regional bus services, BRT, local busses, and possible city tram and metro under one multi-story y-shaped roof.
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Well… I guess that removes any possibility of Five Star being saved.
I wonder if Five Star will be offered space in the new building? Kind of like how Dram&Draught did at One Glenwood.
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When did NS announce closing Glenwood Yard?
Agreed - it seems doubtful that Five Star’s charm (grit?) from the existing location has any chance of being ‘preserved’ as the entire block becomes a transit hub / tower. So then, where should they position themselves for their next phase (sincerely hoping they want to ‘Keep Heat Seeker alive’)?
Seems to me that they could be a cool element in the Bloc 83 courtyard? Doubt it ever recreates the unique scene they’ve cultivated in this location, but the warehouse district has and will continue to gain luster and distance itself from that grit — so could they evolve?
It seems a more ‘Iron Works’ crew than Bloc 83 but that’s the sticky part here. The Feels…
I know I’m going once every week or so as long as possible.
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Glenwood Yard ceased operations within the past month, and the office has closed. Through routing is still possible to Chocowinity, but CLNA mostly interchanges with CSX to get to the outside world. The ‘NS’ east of Raleigh in mostly used these days for in-line storage of empty coal hoppers after having dumped their loads at Duke Energy plants further west, and awaiting their orders to head north for refills. Unit trains ‘349’ and ‘350’ are now routed between Selma and Linville.
There is already development activity with condos sites ‘The Carson’ being prepared between Carson and the tail track. (Redirecting...)
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Sadly, RUS Bus is being used for GoRaleigh and GoTriangle service as well being a BRT node. Greyhound’s chances of operations near RUS got squeezed out with Kane Realty snapping up the Clancy & Theys site. And the women’s shelter across Cabarrus is going condo. I suppose they could be shoehorned onto the old SOU depot pad, but it’s doubtful unless West Street is extended.
The women’s shelter is more likely to be hotel from what the developer said at the CAC meetings. I’d prefer condos.
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Fair enough. I’m not sure that either option would be too keen on having the traffic of a Greyhound station just across the street. But, I could be wrong. We shall see.
The other option would be to develop within the wye, but that would be a challenge to get in/out since Hargett Street as a grade crossing would be closed off for the future SEHSR platform. Not sure if there could be a grade separation over/under which would be do- able for a motorcoach.
If MSFH expanded into that church next door, I’d love to see a section carved out as a full service restaurant for FiveStar. This way, it could at least be put into an old warehouse building again and retain some of its charm & grit.
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- Meaning the development would host some of the BRT hub
- The project federal funds would be in jeopardy if they haven’t started construction by June 2020 (demo permit likely doesn’t count)
- The rezoning is needed to gain more density to compensate financials to cover the bus and affordable housing components of the project
- The BRT lines would ingress/egress from West street and the GoRaleigh city buses would ingress/egress from Hargett street (as projected today)
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This is fantastic news!!! dance
I think the real benefit comes from the potential to consolidate all tracks heading north from downtown into a single corridor. Glenwood Yard would be a fantastic redevelopment site. CSX would likely consider abandoning their yard as well since it’s actually more lightly used than Glenwood Yard.
The only facility that’s really still needed is something for passenger trains.
My suggestion has been something similar to NCDOT’s SEHSR proposal, only without the (completely unnecessary) 45mph wiggling route proposed by NCDOT.
However, Glenwood Yard’s closing opens up the interesting possibility of just acquiring the NS line south of Edgeton, upgrading it for passenger trains, and using a portion of Glenwood Yard to service and store passenger trains, and just abandoning the entire CSX line from Edgewood to Boylan, including Capitol Yard. There would need to be a grade separation at Fairview, but that would be cheaper than a big rail flyover like the above.
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My understanding is the $20M federal funding only applies to the ground floor transit center. So maybe there is a scenario where the mixed used upper floors could follow as a future phase if needed? Seems like a long way to go for that since still working through rezoning.
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Who wants to help me identify and move forward rail trail options in Raleigh? Does someone have a robust understanding of the network? Over the next year I want to start to delve into this more. Maybe we can create a high line 2.0 in Raleigh? (ideally with space for a bike path though vs. just ped oriented 
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I don’t really see that crew falling under Niall’s or Empire Eats ( think they own the building?) umbrella…
Maybe. I just hope they endure.
Related: I was in NYC a few weeks ago and tweeted at Mitchell Silver (their Parks guru in NYC and our former Planning Director) and he said he plans to retire in Raleigh. Now that is something I can get behind!
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Not to be negative here… but Raleigh can’t even keep the water fountain working properly on Fayetteville St plaza. I wonder how it would be if they had 20 water fountains or play areas?
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From the sound of it they are going all in for rezoning and starting the full project by June 2020.
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