One thing that metro Atlanta ring cities and towns have done is rejuvenated their downtowns. Downtown Alpharetta is a really nice blend of 100 year old buildings and newer construction which was even hard for me to tell the difference sometimes. They have done a great job. If you are ever in the far north suburbs check it out. Roswell, Marietta, Acworth have all done the same thing too in Cobb County.
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That final pic looks to me so much like Moore Square from when I moved to Raleigh long ago. Aww
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and suddenly 40% of the country became historic preservation fans!
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a shame that can’t be said about Charlotte. Every time I travel to Charlotte no matter which direction I arrive, I tire of seeing the “welcome” of used car dealers, equipment rental stores, run down warehouses, fast food, truck stops, sketchy dilapidated motels, etc. It’s just GROSS. So very unattractive.
I’ve stayed in hotels in all areas of Charlotte for various reasons, and while the tall buildings are pretty to look at from far away or approaching by interstate/airporet the only “nice” part of town is around SouthPark. The rest of the city is trash in my opinion. My travel companions are the ones who vocalized that to me, and I had to agree. I was sort of immune to it, just usually shrugging it off as “that’s just how Charlotte is” but we don’t have that negative arrival experience coming into Raleigh. We’re gifted with beautiful trees no matter which way you arrive, with the exception of US 1 coming in from Wake Forest. Can’t be perfect.
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Here is a part of so called “trashy” Charlotte that is not SouthPark called Ballantyne. Ballantyne has 4 million sq ft of office space, a country club by the same name, 4 hotels, our first Wegmans now under construction and the new Ballantyne Bowl anchored by a 26 story apartment tower called Oro, lots of restaurants and an Old Meck Brewery. Take I-485 to US 521 exit 61 for reference. Took these a few weeks ago. Anytime anyone wants a tour of the Queen City let me know in advance and I can make it happen unless I am up in Raleigh like I will be this weekend.
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Bruh. Bruhhhhhh.
This interchange as it currently exists is a mess - arguably the worst interchange in NC - but I feel like maaaaaaybe not every single road needs an exit ramp to everything.
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The former downtown Cary service station that is turning into a restaurant has had its more recent exterior finishes removed, revealing the old Shell signs and other details below. This will likely be temporary, so I snagged a picture.
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You know what they say about trolls with big feet?
Big shoes.
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I was impressed by Princeton, NJ and the number of bikes I’ve seen around. I also like the culture regarding pedestrians (based off what I’ve seen up here). Overall I’ve noticed that cars overall give way to pedestrians in crosswalks and crossing the street in general.
Also adding in that I noticed one of the intersections at 27 and Washington Rd. had a pedestrian only cycle.
And now for other photos not related to bikes.
Photos from the Princeton University Art Museum
Photos from the campus and city
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Had a chance to visit Stony Mountain Vineyard in the Uwharries, and stopped by Morrow Mountain while I was in the area. This gave me some material to make my first video in a long time. A combination of weather and stuff going on in my life kept me from uploading more… it rained when I went up to Boone during peak autumn. 
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I can only imagine the colors had this been filmed a few weeks earlier. What a beautiful state we have! 
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Has anyone heard of the new Innovation Quarter in Winston-Salem? If a train station comes to Winston, the camel city could be world class in no time. https://www.innovationquarter.com/phase-ii-of-the-innovation-quarter/
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From my years of living in (and near) WS I always dreamed the old (unused) rail line running from Clemmons, by Hanes Mall, between 5 Points and Baptist Hospital, wrapping around the West End and north side of Downtown, then joining in with the line running through the eastern part of downtown would be revived as a light rail (or even greenway at this point). That would go right through the “Innovation District” which is currently mostly just grassy fields.
WS was struggling when I was younger as all of the big industry was moving out of town and Big tobacco was failing and going through MAJOR downsizing including 3 of my immediate family members. (Yes, I did work for RJR for 3 summers in college too 
) I needed to get out of there as it was turning into a very depressing place. I’m truly happy to see WS is pivoting and making a comeback.
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I don’t know if any of you have been keeping up with the Portal North Project in the NYC area, but here’s a cool time lapse video of the progress so far. The bridge is scheduled to open to rail traffic next March and will fix one of the biggest bottlenecks on the north east corridor.
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Very cool. Is this a replacement bridge or just added capacity?
Only 3 hours away from downtown Raleigh is the town of Manteo on Roanoke Island the county seat of Dare.
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This particular segment is building a new, taller bridge with increased speed limits for the trains. The existing bridge is a swing bridge that rotates 90 degrees to let boats through. It’s over 100 years old and stops all rail traffic when it’s open. Sometimes it fails to line up properly when rotated back into position. It causes massive headaches for traveling in the area.
Here’s the existing brige.
This project also involves boring two new tunnels from NJ to NY Penn Station and then fully modernizing the two existing tubes once the new ones are open. Here’s another quick video highlighting some of the NYC area work. There’s work being done all along the corridor though. Track realignments and tunnel work in Baltimore, electrification upgrades in multiple states, increased speeds, grade work, signaling, etc. In my opinion, this is the most significant American infrastructure project in the last 50 years.
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thanks! Super informative. I know about the tunnel projects, but not the other work.
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