Wait I thought the last stage was demolishing this second half of the old bridge. There’s still more to be built and removed? Man this is quite the endeavor
I think all the demolition is complete, and this will just add a few more lanes to the new bridge. This will allow an exit lane onto the new peace Street exit, etc.
Today in the District B Facebook group…jeez guess they’re trying to find any way to kill the rezoning request (despite the fact that the CAC and Planning Commission voted for it).
Not to mention that the downtown district is normally exempt from traffic studies (because nothing would ever get built if we assumed the same suburban trip distribution in a dense urban area)
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If we don’t allow more traffic then we are not allowing more buildings. Without more buildings, the city doesn’t grow. More traffic is a classic NIMBY excuse for blocking development.
I’ll use a classic rebuttal to Cox’s statement. “If we can’t build height in downtown, then where?”
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Exactly. The people have to go somewhere. Should it be endless suburban sprawl instead?
Also wanted to tell him if he’s worried about traffic, maybe he should set an example by taking public transit instead of driving every day.
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I’ve asked pointed questions to David Cox on Twitter and never get a response in fact I think I asked that same question, if not in Smoky Hollow phase 3, where? If you don’t want to accommodate for X more residence in that block (higher tax density) are you suggesting they should live in the burbs instead? I can promise you 100% of people in the burbs are driving to work (ok, maybe 98%) though residents downtown in a mixed use development with public transportation options (on a BRT route) will have a good % less driving daily.
How do you use the traffic excuse there? Do you really think you’re going to slow/stop the growth of one of America’s most desirable cities?? There will be more traffic, yes! People want to move here! But give them a chance to leverage public transportation and/or walk to work!
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Yeah, David Cox has got to go. I agree with him about the RDU quarry but literally nothing else. You know that if he forces a traffic study, and the study comes back and says “no problem” he is going to say he doesn’t believe it, and he will try to block the project on the basis of traffic anyway.
In the upcoming election, the framing needs to be: “What is the vision for Raleigh - vibrant or stagnant?” With Cox, Mendell, etc all being on the “stagnant” side.
Thank goodness the region is growing; in the US, the alternative is a decline and slide into irrelevancy. The city of Raleigh must embrace this growth and continue to be a living, breathing organism - constantly updating and refreshing itself so it doesn’t lose its edge and slide into stagnation in the face of suburban expansion.
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And this is why most developers are just building to what their zoning allows in the UDO and not trying to rezone their properties. Too much hassle.
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He cherry-picks numbers to direct his narrative of disapproval towards the project.
Break it down, “Staff provided some data suggesting that the development COULD add ABOUT 5,000 vehicle trips a day”
- When they use words “about” its probably closer to 4,500
- The stat says vehicle TRIPS a day which implies everyone’s trip to and from work each day, not the amount of cars on the road.
- He then says “I do worry about adding 5,000 more cars a day and the impacts they have”
- That’s completely incorrect
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Thought it was time for an updated picture of Phase 2 site prep with Phase 1 in the background. Lots of dirt getting moved around! Trees gone. Fencing up. Old parking lot asphalt and slab concrete crushed and spread.
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@John Do you remember the daily vehicle counts up and down Capital back when we did Link Peace Street?
I love it. I’ll add also he could propose massive *real improvements to the mass transit here. I’m talking on the order of 10x the bus service and a Raleigh led light rail initiative. I hate sprawl. I hate car dependency. I hate parking lots in downtown. I hate our looped de loop streets all over the place.
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This is spot on. Instead of lamenting about the number of additional vehicles, They should encourage projects like this as it will make rail or BRT that much more attractive and useful with the added density.
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Yeah, it’s a forever loop to nowhere. We can’t have density because we don’t have transit, and we can’t have transit because we don’t have density. All we can do is spread out further and widen roads.
What people don’t understand is that part of traffic is not just how often you get in a car, but how far you go. If you can take steps to reduce either or both, you are making progress. Reduce the number of trips that you need to take in a car = 
Reduce the distance you need to travel once you are in the car = Reduce how often you are in a car and how far you go once in it =
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I don’t remember those numbers, but the state sure seemed to think that the only way that they could handle them was by using a limited access intersection. That said, by the time the NCGA is done, there won’t be any state employees left to deal with downtown.
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Found it.
Average daily traffic volumes along Capital Boulevard vary from
41,000 vehicles per day south of Peace Street to 54,000 vehicles per day north of Peace Street.
By the way, here’s us!
Capital Boulevard is constructed as a six-lane, median-divided roadway with a posted speed of 45 mph. Peace Street is a four-lane street with a speed limit of 35 mph. Peace Street has auxiliary turn lanes at intersections between West Street and Wilmington Street. Capital Boulevard crosses over Peace Street and forms a partial cloverleaf interchange (type AB, 2-quad). An interchange is a road junction that uses grade separation and ramps to permit traffic on one road to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. Interchanges increase traffic flow efficiency, reduce traffic conflicts and reduce delay for all system users (motorists, bicycle, pedestrians, and transit). However interchanges are expensive to build and maintain; they can require large amounts of public right-of-way (compared to atgrade intersections) and, in order to function properly, may restrict access to adjoining properties.
To alleviate some of these shortcomings, it has been suggested by area residents that the
Capital Boulevard bridge be removed and the interchange with Peace Street be replaced with an at-grade intersection. At-grade intersections have a number of advantages over grade-separated interchanges. At-grade intersections provide more opportunities for driveway access to adjoining businesses and may enhance the potential for redevelopment of adjacent properties. The downside is that at-grade intersections can have significant adverse impacts to traffic flow. They may create long delays for motorists, may cause long queues to form and increase travel time for commercial vehicles and transit providers. Larger intersections can create impediments to pedestrians through increased crossing distance and cyclists often have difficulty navigating complex traffic flows.
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All, I’m reading (re-reading since I’ve seen it multiple times since 2012) this Capital Boulevard corridor study and all this traffic analysis and projections data actually says, if I’m reading this correctly, that the square loop can perfectly handle the projected increase in traffic.
Therefore, we need to tell David Cox, and the entire committee, that the rise in traffic, WE GOT THIS. It’s been accounted for! 
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Great stuff - Please share this with him
“When the wind of change blows, some people build walls, others build (40 story) windmills”
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Some should send David Cox to NoVa and see what a mess he’s line of thinking will be.
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No offense intended at all but I am frankly glad you guys didn’t get your way and have this turned into an at grade intersection. An intersection that big would be a pedestrian nightmare 10 times worse than this interchange could ever be. And with the fairly space-efficient square loop design, it would hardly take up any less space after adding all the double turn lanes that would probably be required. And having an interchange will help speed BRT up, too.
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