I think Earps would do well in one of those little brick buildings near Ray Price. Same area, easy(ier) access. Get some retail going on the strip other than car repair places.
YES! That’s hilarious.
Who would want to live right above a seafood market?? Really. My family LOVES fresh seafood, but there is no way around the odor, especially towards the end of the day. Fish markets belong in areas away from residences, even if it is only separated by a block or so.
Good point. This intersection will really hold things back from connecting downtown to all the proposed developments south of MLK/ Western. Add in Dix park, this interchange needs to be reconfigured to make it more pedestrian friendly.
Otherwise it will be just like the Capital / WF rd / Atlantic interchange mess that separates downtown from connecting more to the midtown / NH area.
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Even if the interchange was changed (don’t hold your breath), the bigger issue is the land usage just south of MLK. In that immediate area, we have Washington Elementary School, Mt. Hope Cemetery, Walnut Terrace, and the Rocky Branch watershed standing sentry to any meaningful change that could come about in the most impactful corner: SE.
IMO, the better strategy is to figure out how to successfully go around the blockade from the west and the east to connect urban experiences to DT proper.
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The best layout would have been to split into one way pairs at East (from the east) and at Lake Wheeler (from the west) using Jamaica and Bledsoe as the east-bound of the pair. So much would need to happen for that to happen that I know it never ever ever will…but I do love to draw lines on my mental map. On the 1914 Sanborn map a lot of that was real close to happening but then cars took over, square blocks went by the wayside and eventually were torn out to leave us with this product that favors cars over people
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Do any of the Raleigh historians here know why exactly the roads into Raleigh from the south, and especially S. Saunders, are designed as peculiarly as they are? I can’t imagine any sane person designing them that way on purpose, but now that the development has built up around them, we’re more or less stuck with them now.
"An old map dated 1887 shows Garner connected with the City of Raleigh by a road listed as Holloman’s Road. This was a typical country road at the time, unpaved until about 1918. Its importance, aside from its serving as a link between the small Garner community and the state capital, lay in the fact that it was a small section of what was to become one of the oldest and longest traveled corridors in North Carolina, the Central Highway.
The road became jointly known as Number 10 and U.S. 70 on the popular maps of the day. U.S. 70 was the first paved road to be built in the state and was financed by the first bonds sold by the state to build highways. The Central Highway from the mountains to the sea was started in 1911. The portion of the highway between Garner and Raleigh was paved around 1916 or 1917. During this period, farmers living outside of town purchased a lot on the north side of the railroad on Garner Road and built their city home. Sam Mitchiner recalls going to WWI by way of the muddy dirt road and returning to find it paved. And throughout the decades, countless families have passed through town on their way to the N.C. coast. This section of the highway today is known as Garner Road. "
https://www.garnernc.gov/about-us/overview-of-town-history
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I’m not sure if there’s a better home for this post but here’s an interesting little article about cities that have removed freeways in hopes of reclaiming real estate for various uses.
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S Saunders came much later. The two oldest roads from the south were Fayetteville (still there south of MLK and more less follows an indian path) and Holleman/Smithfield/Garner (Garner used to be called Holleman’s crossroads). Best I can tell Lake Wheeler/Rhamkatte came later but was there by 1865. Wilmington was your 1950’s bypass of Fayetteville more or less. When the north/south freeway was killed (in Oakwood) the State came up with the plan to use the existing Capital Blvd (also done in the 1950’s) and add a south Saunders punch through to take the place of that freeway. Saunders had two slightly different alignments immediately at the edge of downtown, one where it pinched together at South Street (part of the Dawson swing between South and Lenoir is still in the convention center paring lot south of Red Hat) but that was altered with the bridge under the tracks at Lenoir so that it pinched together south of South around 1990 or so…I was a kid then and am basing that date on memory. Anyway the whole area between Lake Wheeler and the Memorial Auditorium area was a giant plantation of Governor Manly (he had at least one other iirc), that become a grid of streets after the Civil War and then that was ripped out for the Saunders (really called the Dawson/McDowell connector right there) connector. I share your frustration with all of it…it was put it when getting cars in and out of downtown at light speed was the only concern. Along with Smokey Hollow, it was one of Raleigh’s two planned urban renewal projects that got implemented. Hundreds of buildings were lost, about 10 city blocks and a couple thousand, mostly poor african americans, displaced. Heritage Park was the single bone thrown. Sorry for the all the rambling…a lot of tangential thoughts cropped up while writing.
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Not quite in the same place but where does Avent Ferry Road figure into this history? That’s a pretty old road too right?
South Saunders was connected to Dawson and McDowell in 1993 (construction probably would have commenced around 1991 or so.) Before then, South Saunders only went due north-south, ending at Cabarrus. Likewise, Dawson ended at Lenoir St and McDowell at South St. The diagonal railroad bridge crossing of the Lenoir/Dawson intersection, and the simple bridge crossing at McDowell, were built as a part of this 1990s era project. The street grid through that part of town was seemingly urban renewaled out of existence some time in the late 1970s or early 1980s, as @Mark mentions.
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Hillsborough St heading west split into several roads. 3 of which were called Hillsborough Rd and Avent Ferry (Avent Ford) being a fourth. It seems to have colonial origins. Ashe, Bilyeu (a small bit of old dirt Bilyeu, quarter mile or so was just obliterated for the Pullen extension…I would have loved to have taken a metal detector out there and see what could have been found) , Bryn Mawr Ct, Tryon Road made it up as it approached Holly Springs. What is now the intersection of Tryon and Holly Springs Rd was the Macedonia community and there is at least one antebellum house there still. The Macedonia community cemetery is at Tryon and Mid Pines and dates on those stones might give some insight into the age of the community and thus Avent Ferry Road. Civil war columns marched down Avent Ferry in 1865 to Holly Springs to train while the truce was being negotiated. There are/were still gun pits west of Holly Springs from then.
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