or mabye ArArOaCiDy (Area Around Oak City Dylan)
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In all seriousness, Cabarrus still gives this development a straight shot to the very core by running right into the BB&T Building (can we still call it that?). If Cabarrus ever got cut off to traffic, then the area it would be ridiculously isolated.
…but I’m with you on the West St. extension. It needs to be willed to happen. Maybe you can go to every council meeting and use the community forum to ask for it month after month after month after month after month like that crowd who thinks that the city council can stop all abortions.
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Every grade separation project has been in the $34M range. And, the EIS stipulation is already in place for West/Cabarrus to be a separation/closing pairing.
Oddly, U-5521, isn’t even on the NCDOT’s radar, having fallen off the STIP 10-year development horizon.
So, FTA Small Starts is going to be our best chance to move that up a bit riding on BRT’s coattails.
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Thanks for the answer! Can you now restate it in idiot’s terms so that I understand what you’re saying? Seriously…I don’t know what all those things mean.
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Sure. Most state-funded transportation infrastructure projects get put into a development cycle based on the revenue stream the NCDOT gets from the taxes we pay.
There is a formula used to evenly disperse the funds throughout the state in an equitable fashion, and all of it is placed in a document known as the STIP (State Transportation Improvement Program). This process gives a 10-year horizon for projects. And, if placed in the document, it will get a STIP number. In this case, U-5521.
Now, that being said, getting a STIP number is no guarantee of funding. And, there has to be an environmental review built in to the process. But, STIP projects can also be suspended at times for various reasons, and then reanimated.
And, a STIP project can get a mix of funding from other sources. I referenced the Federal Transit Agency (FTA) in this case as part of their Capital Investment Grants. This is a current funding mechanism and broken down into New Starts, Core Capacity, and Small Starts. All of this was authorized in 2015 by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act and provides $2.3B annually.
New Starts are for bigger, new projects. Core Capacity grants are for current transit infrastructure. And, Small Starts are for smaller projects getting going.
The City of Raleigh is applying for $63.7M through Small Starts to be used for the New Bern BRT proposal. Once a locally preferred alternative route is selected (which it has), then the environmental review has to be submitted by 01/2020. The federal grant agreement could be approved by 10/2020 with revenue operation to begin by 2023.
So, the West Street extension fell off of the TIGER grant for RUS/RGH. The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) was a supplementary discretionary grant program included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. That legislation provided $1.5B annually for the National Surface Transportation System through seven funding cycles. TIGER has been supplanted by the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) program.
Any way, the West Street extension is well beyond the infrastructure budget of the City of Raleigh. But, since the extension is to be an integral part of RUSbus (having received its own $20M BUILD grant), and BRT West, then it will likely get put into that grant process for another Small Starts grant.
Was that helpful?
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Yes. That’s very helpful. Thanks!
That said, when the state disperses the funds throughout the state “equitably”, what exactly does that mean? Does the state peanut butter the money regardless of its source? Are there donor areas like the Triangle and Charlotte that put way more money into it than they get out of it?
There is a calculus, that I don’t quite understand, which tries to balance an even geographic distribution of transportation improvements across the state versus population density priority using their Strategic Mobility Formula. The new metric came into being with the Strategic Prioritization Funding Plan for Transportation Investments which was signed in 2013.
But, yes, larger metropolitan areas had complained that they weren’t getting projects funded at a level that they were paying in.
Bottom Line: GoTriangle is going to be taking point on this process. So, to pursue citizen action, I would recommend contacting them through their website channel. I can’t find out who the Project Engineer is for the Wake BRT project, otherwise I would engage them first. I’ve found GoTriangle to be fairly responsive to inquiries for the most part.
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When Kay Crowder spoke with my neighborhood about the West St extension and mentioned it falling off the STIP, she cited unexpected needs due to recent hurricanes in the eastern part of the state that suddenly became state priorities as the reason.
Harrington connected to Lenoir until fairly recently, but the Dawson/McDowell connector diving under the tracks at Dawson, required the excavation of Lenoir to match the Dawson grade. Since Harrington was already chopped off by the 1870’s It probably wasn’t considered a huge deal then. Too bad Fairweather couldn’t/didn’t allow that to be reconnected.
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Speaking of grade separation. I heard the Blue Ridge Rail Bridge construction will start this year. Anyone know when? Some say this month and others say after the State Fair in October.
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I did not know that. Fascinating and would be cool to see how that looked prior to the excavation/realignment work.
Not much I could glean from the NCDOT. Their communications are about their recent Transportation Summit which was filled with autonomous air taxis and autonomous minicars for NC State. They don’t have a current project website put up to give updates on the two projects - Beltline and grade separation. The STIP only says that it is ‘Under construction.’
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@OakCityDylan Well, your wish is my command. That was an image challenge last summer from Olde Raleigh - N.C. that I correctly identified.
Pictured is 320 West Lenior Street (present-day 400 block) in 1945. This rickety duplex was the home of Eddie and Cora Hinnant. Eddie was a laborer and in 1945 is listed as a driver for Max Bane, a local junk dealer. This house and the junkyard next to it, were both owned by Bane.
N.53.16.2036
From the Albert Barden Collection, State Archives; Raleigh, NC.
1914 Sanborn Fire Insurance map of the area. 320 W Lenoir is in the mid-block, adjacent to 529 S. Harrington occupying the NE corner of W. Lenoir and S. Harrington. South Harrington is out of the frame of the photograph, but just to the left of the image.
_
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So, if this is a Texas doughnut…
Would the Parisian version be considered a cruller…
I know. It’s late. And, I’m kinda punchy. 
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That’s a good one! 
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Bonner Gaylord was at our HOA meeting and said that the expected start date for this project will be Q4 of this year and construction will take about two years. Of course, it’s contingent on Clancey & Theys being able to move their offices to Smoky Hollow II. They mentioned that the entire first floor of the residential building will be commercial space (about 35k sq ft).
They also gave us a little more info about the adaptive reuse of the warehouses across the street from this development (and directly behind houses on S Saunders). They’ll be tearing down the derelict warehouse on the southwest side of the property, upfitting the other two warehouses, and creating an outdoor seating and entertainment area in the parking lot on the east side of the property. They expect to have 3 tenants (but couldn’t tell us who) and hope to have everything up and running by this August if things go smoothly. There’s a 13 year lease on the cell tower in the middle of the property, so there won’t be more significant development happening here for at least that long.
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The black and white text on the screen is confusing to me. Did you say THIS August for the warehouse project??? 
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Yes! It’s basically some demo and adaptive reuse of existing buildings, so they just need signed leases from the tenants (which they seem to be close on) to get started.
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Is it a bridge or is it a tunnel!
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Both? Bridge for trains, tunnel for everything else?
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