The idea of a riverwalk has come up before – but alas NC’s wetlands regulations make it difficult to do any “urban” waterfronts (with hard edges up against the water) on existing streams around Raleigh.
One alternative is to do a riverwalk along a nonexisting stream. That’s pretty much the approach that Frederick, MD took with its Carroll Creek downtown riverwalk, built after devastating floods in the 1970s. (Sound like a certain creekside Valley Mall you might know?) Most of the volume now goes through a belowground storage/culvert system, leaving more room aboveground for a largely decorative channel. Photo tour:
Carroll Creek Linear Park | Frederick Business, MD (history, with video)