Show Off Things From Other Cities

The nearest stop (same side of the strip) is Harrah’s for the monorail.

Came across this recently as city’s could probably use some new facilities to attract families:

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I just got back from a week in Minneapolis. I’ve been to many of America’s major cities, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many cyclists. Maybe it’s because I went during the 1/3 of the year you can be outside. :laughing: Or maybe it’s the separated bike lanes. :person_shrugging:





They still have plenty of painted bike lanes, but I was surprised at how many had a real buffer between them and vehicular traffic.

They have light rail too! Not bad for a city “smaller” than Raleigh.

Minneapolis population from Wikipedia:

Raleigh population from Wikipedia:

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Okay, but where are the photos of the actual cyclists?

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I think this is the only pic I took that actually includes any, but I promise they were there! :sweat_smile:

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I’m visiting Minneapolis next week - excited to see it! The bike infrastructure looks incredible.

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Holly Springs making us look like unsophisticated peasants over here in Raleigh…

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Always loved downtown Winston Salem. They have done so many office to residential or hotel conversions. Took old tobacco factories and turned them into an Innovation Quarter anchored by Wake Forest School of Medicine. Plus have a colonial neighborhood on the door steps of its downtown that being Old Salem.





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few more of downtown Winston Salem. Last photo is Salem Tavern and yes George Washington did sleep here!





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W-S is a prime candidate for freeway removal to reconnect East Winston with downtown. With the opening of I-74, US-52 should be carrying fewer cars now. Not unlike the Durham freeway and I-885. We have got to take advantage of these opportunities. Do you know if there is any momentum around this in W-S?

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short answer no. US 52 south of Winston is designated as I-285 up to I-40 coming from Charlotte and points south. Then US 52 from I-40 to US 421 the old 40 is very heavy travelled and even though I-74 bypasses Winston from the east and later connects with US 52 north of the city, I doubt NC DOT would ever support dead ending US 52 right by downtown. I would say it is hear to stay.

Here are some cyclists actually using bike lanes in Miami Beach. These are the cyclists that I saw in about 100 ft of walking across this short bridge on a very humid August afternoon with a huge dark storm sky looming. Kudos to the family riding together with the baby seats. In the Winter, the # of cyclists is easily double. All of these photos where taken successively as I walked.



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I was in little Washington last week and this town has completely revitalized its downtown. And I suspect many in Raleigh area have really helped out by buying 2nd homes or retirement homes along the Tar River/Pamlico Sound. As NC cities like Raleigh have become more prosperous these towns along the coast and on the NC Inner Banks have grown and prospered again. The downtown is now full of shops and restuarants, Airbnbs, and new homes and condos along the waterfront walking distance to downtown. The Original Washington.




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Couple more from little Washington just 1 hour 40 minutes from downtown Raleigh.





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Didn’t DOT just dump a bunch of money into reconstructing 421 as well? Obviously not the same road, but shows that these downtown freeways are being maintained and upgraded, quite the opposite of scrapped.

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Yes they completely rebuilt it through downtown Winston east and west. Got rid of very short ramps added a couple of pedestrian bridges. It is much safer now. It won a national award.
https://www.winstonsalem.com/2021/08/salem-parkway-wins-national-engineering-award/

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and they have real winters

I’m aware of the reality and I’m challenging it, that’s all. They closed 421 for 2 years to rebuild it! Now that’s something. It’s amazing that life went on for two years, isn’t it? Goes to show that you can close freeways and it’s fine. Cars figure out other routes and people adapt. Yes the upgrades made it “better” and “safer” but the best downtown freeway is one that doesn’t exist. Remember there is only one example in the US of a large city that doesn’t have a freeway through its downtown.

The tunnel replacing the Alaskan way viaduct in Seattle was delayed and they had to tear down the old road before the tunnel opened. People freaked out and assumed the worst. I believe this was for a month or two. There was no material impact to commute times, and everyone immediately realized the tunnel was a waste of money. Had that delay never happened, the community wouldn’t have all learned this together. Now there will never be a penny wasted on a project like that in Seattle ever again. Super powerful. I would love to hear what those two years in W-S were like and if people had the same thoughts, questioning the money spent if they were able to adapt while the road was closed.

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City proper populations are not a reliable indicator of “on the ground” urban area population. Cities like Jacksonville, with its million people, are listed among the nation’s most populated, but it’s also more than 700 square miles large and sits in a county with fewer people than Wake. If you want to glean anything from comparing Minneapolis with Raleigh, just look at the density metrics. At the city level, Minneapolis more than doubles ours, and even the urban density bests ours by nearly 900 ppl/m2.

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the best downtown freeway is one that doesn’t exist.

Definitely agree, just meant to point out the DOT is not there at all, not endorse their thinking.

Getting insight into what changed in WS during the construction would be super interesting too. It is a pretty unique circumstance when a freeway like that gets taken away.