I do think that we got a more thoughtful interchange for the city through our efforts; at least that’s the story that I tell myself. 
It’s always good to pay attention, get engagaed, and keep people on their toes.
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No offense at all. And I think we were against a typical large intersection too, like you mention. I feel like an at-grade intersection at Peace and Capital would end up looking like US 70 and Brier Creek Parkway, a massive intersection I used to drive through somewhat frequently when I used to work in RTP. This is what city staff kept alluding to it would look like from our many conversations.
This is TERRIBLE and I know I wouldn’t want this.
However, we wanted a large URBAN intersection that still has a higher-quality pedestrian experience. We mocked up buildings at each corner, which is happening right now with Phase 3 and the other one on the southeast corner. (proposal anyway)
I think it would look something like this.
Now this is fake but look at some of the concepts:
- Tighter turns for cars
- Less distance to cross the road for pedestrians
- A lot of sidewalk space with placemaking elements nearby
- Buildings built much closer to the intersection
- That lower left corner would make a great entrance to the Devereux Meadows park for peds
We can design crappy feeling large intersections but I think it IS possible to get a nice intersection even if it physically larger. It just seems the NCDOT doesn’t know how to do that in an urban context so we were fighting that mentality.
And yeah, what @John said. 
At the end of the day, we were keeping them on their toes.
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can you send this sort of message to the city council to blunt a kill effort to Kane’s variance request?
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Yes, going to send something today.
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Yet we continue fund outrageously expensive transit projects so the people who moved 20 miles away can have their cheap, large and shiny new home without the proper consequences.
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Great summary @dtraleigh !
I’ll add that there’s no way the intersection would have been as bad as the city’s boogeyman example because Peace is not a wide road itself. It would have been more like the intersection of Six Forks @ Lassiter Mill from a scale perspective, and we could have included medians on Capital as places for pedestrians to land if necessary. It also would have slowed the northbound traffic out of the city because there would have been a traffic light there. In the end, it would have been more urban appropriate solution. Heck, it could have even had included a pedestrian bridge across Capital on the south side of it if they were hell bent on building some sort of bridge.
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Frankly, I invite EVERYONE in this community to flood the city council with letters of their own. I did receive a response from them that reads like this:
Thank you for your email to the Mayor and Council Members. This message is to confirm that it has been received and will be shared with them. They appreciate your input regarding this matter and will take it into consideration. Thank you again for taking the time to provide your comments and interest in the City of Raleigh.
Sincerely,
Sarah
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really? Seriously, you didn’t receive a last name or with the city or etc.? 
Same response here. Sarah.
Very generic auto response that says nothing.
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When I wrote the whole council to address Kay Crowder laughing at John Kane, Steph did reply to me and told me not to believe everything I read in the Indy (and trust me I wouldn’t). Since the Indy had Kay’s comments in quotes, I asked Steph if Kay would be asking for a retraction. Crickets.
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If others needs inspiration:
Hello members of Council,
First, I wanted to speak up in favor of the rezoning taking place on Peace Street at Kane Realty’s Smokey Hollow Phase 3 site near Capital Boulevard. I see a lot of benefits which I’ll get to in my email.
In response to concerns about traffic that I heard of in the GNR committee, I wanted to highlight city staff’s work that took place during the Capital Boulevard Corridor Study in 2012. Myself and other downtown residents were active during that conversation and I think the committee should ask staff to bring about some of the traffic analysis done there as it relates to the square loop configuration currently being built by the city and NCDOT. (the new bridge over Peace)
See the study here: https://www.raleighnc.gov/business/content/PlanDev/Articles/UrbanDesign/CapitalBlvdCorridorStudy.html (pdf of the report found here)
The traffic analysis shows reductions, some significant, in delay times, travel times, and fuel used, with the new square loop configuration versus the current road makeup. This even takes into account an assumption of an “annual growth rate of 1% over 23 years,” the report states.
Assuming that new developments, such as Kane Realty’s projects, and others nearby use Capital Boulevard then I am sure the new square loop has the capacity for that traffic growth. Yes, I agree that new developments will add traffic but the infrastructure is in place to accommodate that growth.
Therefore, I ask that you please support the rezoning case that was deemed consistent with our comprehensive plan, consistent with our future land use map, approved by the North Central CAC, and approved by our planning commission.
I strongly feel that these higher density projects near our downtown sets up our upcoming transit investments (BRT) for better success, greatly encourages more walking and active lifestyles, has a higher ROI on our public utilities around the newer developments, and makes our city more sustainable, just to name a few reasons why this one project helps the city as whole.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and please, again, refer to the traffic analysis data which has already been done in this area.
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I didn’t copy her “signature” box.
Sarah Baker, Senior Policy Analyst
City of Raleigh | City Manager’s Office/City Council
919-996-4279 | sarah.baker@raleighnc.gov
Email sent to/from this address is subject to public record law.
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I assume the following email is still valid. This is what I sent to but no auto-response since I sent it a few minutes ago. Maybe Sarah is busy. 
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I would always try and reach out to a specific person on city council rather than send it to just the general city council address (especially if they are in your district). CC the at-large reps as well.
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I sent to Kay and cc’d the rest of the gang.
FWIW, I always get the first response from Stef. While we disagree on some things, I gotta give her huge credit for being the most responsive.
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My response:
Mr. Bouterse,
Thank you for sharing your perspective and for referring us back to the Capital Boulevard Corridor Study.
For several of us, a big part of the traffic concern is the flow along Peace Street and I do think we need more information about that.
Regards,
Stef
I think she may have appreciated that I corrected Leo’s “Smokey” to “Smoky”. 
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Well, I sent mine after hours yesterday and received a confirmation email from her mid morning today. I don’t know if it’s an auto-reply or she actually uses a canned response each time but does it manually.
I sent mine to the council alias but also copied Nancy individually. I can also forward to my council rep and at large individually. Is there a quick cheat sheet somewhere that has all their email addresses on on webpage?