Picture this. It’s a rainy, dark evening and our family has driven two cars all the way from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to Raleigh, our new home. I advise our son in the front car to stay in the right lane as we drive south on Capital Boulevard into the city, since we don’t know the lay of the land. It isn’t long before we’re confused. With every mile, our lane disappears and we’re forced to the left. This is the strangest traffic pattern we’ve encountered in a long time, and we ask ourselves, This is where we’re going to be living now?
Capital Boulevard has presented an array of problems that have challenged planners over time, and last week, another – hopefully final study was initiated to brainstorm about possible alternatives to recreate the entry into Raleigh from the north.
The Capital Boulevard Corridor Study’s Public Design Workshop was held this past Saturday and I attended the morning session, where the 75 or so in attendance broke into small groups, each focusing on one of four topics:
- Land uses and economic development
- Urban design
- Transportation
- Ecology
;)
Click to enlarge
Here is a map of the area included in the study. It includes the north-south section of the road from the Belt Line to Peace Street, as well as the area that runs east-west between the rail corridors.
Anyone who has ever driven down Capital Boulevard understands the need for major improvements. And the city recognizes the need to improve safety along the corridor, replace the worn-out bridges and interchanges, and to do something about the ongoing flooding and water quality concerns.
Key themes arise in any discussion of this heavily traveled area.
One goal is to create new vehicle connections into and across the corridor.
The rail lines that form the east-west boundaries of the study area are clearly major obstacles to vehicle connectivity. Though trains were an important part of the corridor when it was mainly industrial, today heavy industry has all but disappeared, and the rail lines effectively block the adjacent neighbors from getting into and across the corridor.
Solutions discussed
- Redesign the boulevard into one-way paired streets with separate frontage roads that would handle new intersecting streets to / from surrounding neighborhoods.
- The rail corridor on the east side of Capital Boulevard has been designated to support passenger (light) rail. Find a way to consolidate or reconfigure this corridor for continued freight operations, such that the existing freight rail corridor on the west side of Capital Boulevard could be relocated to a less densely populated area.
Another goal: slow down the traffic!
Given that there are presently few other options for vehicles traveling from the north to Wade Avenue / I-40, and into Downtown, Capital Boulevard handles an unavoidably large volume of traffic. The high volume of traffic and lack of east-west connectivity has stunted significant mixed use development despite general proximity to North Raleigh’s office parks and the Downtown government and commercial area. Traffic congestion is already a problem, and the projections are for traffic to increase by 40-70% over the next 25 years.
Solutions discussed
- Plan for handling an increasing volume of traffic with new options for vehicles to get into the Downtown other than on Capital Boulevard. Examples include new connections to Blount Street on the east side, and on the opposite side, extending West Street to meet Wade Avenue (at grade), and then onto Fairview Road.
- Slow the traffic and narrow the street at the southern end of the corridor, between Wade Avenue and Peace Street – the boulevard becomes a parkway.
- Create new “roundabouts” at the corridor’s intersections with and along Peace Street.
Next: bring back Devereaux Meadows
The scale of this project offers a unique opportunity for the city to create needed green space while addressing the water pollution of Pigeon House Branch. Devereaux Meadows, site of a former minor league ballpark was once an important entertainment area for Raleigh residents, though today it’s covered up by under-used industrial and distribution buildings that sit along the corridor.
Solutions discussed
- Open up Pigeon House Creek and create a stream with associated green space for residents.
- Turn Devereaux Meadows into a park, and create new access points for pedestrians via a bridge from Seaboard Station / Peace College.
And also: Create a multi-modal corridor (cars / trains / buses / bicycles)
The South Eastern High Speed Rail (SEHSR) corridor will route through either the east or west side of Capital Boulevard, and the rail corridor on the east side of Capital Boulevard has been designated to also support passenger (light) rail. By next year the specific routes will be determined, along with station locations and associated bus connections. The corridor also includes an east-west greenway along Crabtree Creek that offers the opportunity for new pedestrian and bicycle connections.
Solutions discussed
- Design the vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle connections to fit with the new train and bus stations once they are defined next year.
- Connect the Crabtree Creek Greenway and the Downtown with a new 3-mile greenway that would also cross the corridor over a new pedestrian bridge between Devereaux Meadows and Seaboard Station. See map for a possible route.
This is an especially opportune time to finally address the concerns raised by past studies and echoed again in this latest public design meeting. Raleigh is positioned well for significant growth and it’s critical that we all support plans that re-vitalize the northern gateway into Downtown Raleigh by integrating Capital Boulevard with the coming passenger rail and opening up new development opportunities, while promoting sustainable land use practices.
I invite others, especially those who attended the workshop to add their comments.
Great writeup. I wanted to be at the workshop but really feel like the topics that are important to me were addressed. Thanks for sharing.
I don't understand the comment about the right lane in the first paragraph. Exiting usually happens on the right. If a large amount of traffic is exiting from the roadway, it will usually happen on the right unless there is some other constraint or the roadway itself is splitting away from itself.
Could you explain the one way pair and frontage roads idea. Would there be frontage on both sides of the two new one way streets?
Was there discussion of redesigning the freeway from the beltline to downtown with a new pair of one way streets extending from downtown to handle traffic to downtown proper while also handling local traffic?