Wouldn’t a velodrome swallow up that park? I’d love to have one in the city, but I also don’t want one taking over an entire inner-city park.
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Good question @John and I’m not sure, but I thinking something similar to the velodrome in Rock Hill, SC - Giordana Velodrome
I believe most of the Park is in a floodplain, so I think most of the Park will be open space and natural area.
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I hope they do oak trees here and more tree coverage in general.
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Don’t give up so quickly, it’s too Raleigh-esque! I’m guessing y’all haven’t herd of Asheville’s Velodrome called the “Mellowdrome” which is also in a floodplain of a more active river the French Broad. It’s an old dirt car track converted over into an outdoor Velodrome, and I believe it was recently resurfaced a couple years ago too.
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That seems like a pretty big advantage for Asheville’s Mellowdrome, though? It’d be awesome to have other, limited kinds of buildout in Devereux, but I’m having a hard time imagining anything being built or heavily landscaped (since you need a banked path for velodromes).
And that’s not just because it’s in a floodplain; it’s also because of serious soil contamination.
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Yea it’ll never happen, I was just mentioning it’s possible if you really wanted to build it.
Like others have mentioned I don’t anticipate the city constructing much here and honestly you don’t need to. There aren’t many open green spaces left in downtown and would be a nice break spot between greenway trails. I’m just curious what the road noise coming from Capital will sound like when everything is done.
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I wonder if NCDOT will consider a noise wall her. You can dress them up to make them not seem like just a concrete wall.
As for the park, I’m hoping this gives us that Piedmont Park feel that I’ve really been missing here. I think Dix will as well once that’s ever actually completed.
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The old Asheville Speedway may have been a dirt track at some point, but at the end of its life it definitely was paved. So maybe that helped them get around impervious surface regulations in the flood plain. I digress, but I grew up in Asheville and I was actually good friends with the owner’s son - so I went to races there all the time. The owner was quite a character. Likable- but a very strong personality, as you might expect from the owner of a speedway. When I was about 12 or 13, I got to stand up on the flag tower during a race while my friend waved the checkered flag. LoUd would be an understatement. But quite an awesome experience.
It would definitely flood from time to time. When they converted it to a velodrome, they flattened out the banking but kept the walls in place. As a former motor speedway, it’s longer than your typical velodrome, though. I believe the old race track was 1/3 mile. They could do something smaller in Raleigh - although I’d agree that Devereaux still probably isn’t the right place for it.
A noise wall is a great idea. NCDOT would be unlikely to build one, but the city should definitely consider it.
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I think that it’s pretty obvious here that I have become a big fan of @atl_transplant but I don’t like the idea of a noise wall at this location. IMO, the city and its downtown need to “open up” to travelers and welcome them as they are heading south on Capital Blvd, and a wall would do just the opposite. What I am looking for in this location is an experience to the city’s “money shot” as one crests the hill and transitions from S. Saunders to McDowell. I’m looking for more visual wow.
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Making the city (especially downtown) nice for people outside of their cars, is more important than making it nice for people zipping by on Capital Blvd at 45mph. I would rather not endure ear splitting tire noise (and yes. It is ear splitting!) at Devereaux Meadows so that drivers can have a view of the park.
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I think if you set the wall back as far as possible against the ROW and landscape it well it may be hard to even tell it’s a noise wall.
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Well, I don’t think that the experiences between people driving into town, or arriving by bike, or walking the area for exercise, or living there are mutually exclusive.
But, if that is how we are looking at it, I can frame it from the position of someone how owns a home in that corridor.
Putting up a sound wall will create a funnel effect through the northern entrance to downtown, further separate the east side from the west side of the Peace Street corridor, and make it less pedestrian friendly. It will further solidify that downtown “ends” at Peace Street, prevent a transition of experience as the city meets its perimeter neighborhoods, and damage the north side of downtown.
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I’m starting to think the Cargill site would be a good location. The city could then sponsor a criterium and the loop course would flow up Wilmington to Peace and then return south on Salisbury to MLK. The cornering at Salisbury and MLK would be a little tricky.
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I think with the Capital being elevated from the park, you would not need a full height sound wall. You may be able to get some benefit from a half size wall. Doesn’t even have to be a wall. A small berm with some good plants and things. Won’t be full sound proof, but would maybe be good compromise.
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Maybe the velodrome won’t work (let’s find another viable location for it, though!), but perhaps a paved pump track might?
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I really hope that they plant a lot of native trees, shrubs, and flowers to help mitigate the storm water. Plus we need more parks with trees close enough to have hammocks in between them, that’s just my opinion.
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I hope they leave the kid park and dog park ideas for Dix, Chavis and Pullen park lol
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The entire stretch of Capital from Wade Ave to beyond Peace St. needs trees! 
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