Update from State of Downtown Durham event April 21st:
http://forum.buildingbullcity.com/State-of-Downtown-Durham-Event-April-21st-td691.html
Lot of exciting stuff happening in our sister town
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No it wasnât ever in style. Thatâs why they describe it as one of a kindâŚ
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27 story residential in Durham? We canât even get a single 20+ story residential up in DTR. Lol
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Because we continue to NOT brand the city for its urban potential.
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Really cool tower concept in Atlanta with majority of units reserved for educators.
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No love for Skyhouse?
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In the past 5 yearsâŚ
I guess this was lost on yaâll.
Theyâre RALEIGH Trolleys in âanother cityâ.
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Lmaooo I totally missed that. What are they doing
Apparently, you can rent out those trolleys for private tours. (Including in the wrong part of the Triangle, I guess?)
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Making a separate post since itâs unrelated to the weird trolley situation above. If you ever think Raleigh and the Triangleâs transit situation is bad and we seem to always plan things to death, just remember weâre not the only ones; itâs more of a nationwide problem all across America.
Case in point: New York State wants to build a rail (well⌠AirTrain) connection to LaGuardia Airport, the only one that doesnât have such a service. But New York City and a whole host of interests bring up valid points about its uselessness (you need at least one transfer to get to its soon-to-be-made-beautiful Penn Station) or environmental/traffic damage. This has gotten to the point that the usually-pro-transit advocacy platform Streetsblog wrote this:
So if you donât like something about our region or state, remember: at least we donât have Andrew Cuomo creeping around.
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Another pic from Durham.
@RaleighFireDept, pls ask @DurhamFireDept how they allowed this egregious street impediment.
(W. Parish St)
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What was the concern with the transfer? If itâs the transfer from the Airtrain to the LIRR, then the same thing happens at JFK. In either case, I can definitely see their concerns. Iâve used the bus at both JFK and LGA and had no problems. The cost of using the Airtrain at JFK is a pretty hefty price ($7.75/person).
On a separate note, the transfers with both of these airports is why I donât see the need for the 100 bus going through the airport. I will admit that bypassing the airport wonât benefit riders transferring at RTC since all busses get there at about the same time. It would only benefit those getting off/on at RTC.
We leave our older Subaru at RTC and take the 100 back and forth to Terminal 2. $2.25 each way and free, though unmonitored parking. And prior to COVID, if your plane was late on a Sunday, we Ubered back to RTC. Would prefer to take the 100 all the way, but expensive DTR daily parking is prohibitive. Would have to take the 6 and change DTR to the 100 to avoid DTR parking. Easier and cheaper to park at TTC.
AirTrain JFK is somewhat useful because it connects to a meaningful transit hub with oodles of commuter rail and subway service (Jamaica) rather than kind of a nothingburger (Willets Point) on an overcrowded subway (the 7) and a commuter rail branch with kind of infrequent service.
In this case the LaGuardia AirTrain is especially galling because there is a very feasible subway extension (the N) that would be better in every way imaginable.
Now: if they were to take the JFK AirTrain, and extend it past Jamaica, to LaGuardia, with infill stations along the way (including one at Willets as well as some along its current route above the Van Wyck Expressway)- THEN we can talk. That would be a solid and beneficial transit project. Even so that should in no way have priority over just extending the NâŚ
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The AirTrain is the sole reason why I choose JFK when flying to NYC. Even if the cost of the flight is a bit higher (it usually isnât), the savings of using transit to get to Manhattan always covers any difference of LGA+Uber or LGA+Taxi. Thereâs also the added benefit of not having to worry about traffic with a bus.
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The (for Raleigh residents, probably) odd feeling when Chapel Hill somehow ends up getting cool cycling and walkable downtown amenities Raleigh is struggling withâŚ
That is a concept sketch for one of several upgrades the Town of Chapel Hillâs thinking of building for the bus stop next to the Italian restaurant 411 West.
Franklin St. is the main street running through downtown Chapel Hill, and used to be a 4/5-lane road with curbside parking (read: a pain to drive, cycle, or bus through). So it decided to work with NCDOT to use fewer car lanes and add bike lanes -but the pandemic gave the town an excuse to have a temporary head start:
Just a reminder that your stereotypically-NIMBY town can have nice things, too, sometimes 
Several restaurants in Chapel Hill have been taking advantage of the above experiment to expand outdoor seating onto what used to be the sidewalk. Iâm kinda surprised I havenât seen anything like this in RaleighâŚ
You can see this and more in the meeting packet for the townâs Public Transit Committee meeting this past Tuesday.
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Weâve started implementing âprotectedâ bike lanes and restaurants have been using sidewalks and even parking spots for seating. The DRAâs survey I posted yesterday was even asking if that (outdoor seating) should be retained post COVID.
I feel like Iâm missing something. What is Chapel Hill doing that Raleigh isnât? Are these larger/better protected lanes?
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I love the picture you posted (bike lanes behind parking) but Iâm less keen on the bus stop. The bike lane is in the right place near the bus stop island, but the â50â bike lane shiftâ puts it in front of the parking, unprotected, elsewhere which is⌠still not quite getting it right.
In addition, Franklin Street has always been easier to work with than most streets in Raleigh because it is about 100â wide. Thereâs, essentially, plenty of room for all modes there. Raleighâs downtown streets (bar Fayetteville, and Hillsborough between the railroad bridge and the capitol) are narrower - 66ft. Hillsborough by NCSU is closer to 75 ft. Have to make some compromises there.
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