Raleigh Downtown Living Advocates

Category: Transportation / Parking (Page 9 of 10)

Buses, Trains and Automobiles… All Aboard Raleigh’s Public Transport Network!

June 17, 2010 /

Imagine yourself living in North Raleigh a decade from now.  It’s early morning and you want to take the kids to Washington, so you park your car at the light rail station, jump on the light rail into Union Station in Downtown Raleigh, and board the high speed train, arriving in DC in time for lunch.

Traffic congestion could choke off city’s growthSeem like a fantasy?  It’s not.  City officials are working hard to share this vision with citizens, as they find their way through the maze of transportation options.  Mass transportation, including commuter rail between Raleigh, RTP, Cary, Chapel Hill, and the airport (among other regional destinations), is seen across local government agencies as “one of the most important issues facing the Triangle Region.”

 

Confused?  Even skeptical? 

I’m starting to appreciate that while the big changes are 10+ years away, our city has truly embarked on this journey, one that will fundamentally alter the way we get around.    But given the variety of agencies involved and the scale of capital investment, the process requires an incredibly complex amount of planning on the part of officials, what Mitchell Silver, the City Planning Director, refers to as “a lot of moving parts”, but perhaps more importantly, an even more daunting effort to get citizens on board.

Transit covers various modes of public transportation, and can get very complicated, so I’ve collected information here that will hopefully help explain the key components of our transit process, and what is happening now.

  1. Regional Transit System
  2. High Speed Rail
  3. Union Station / Transit Oriented Development

Regional Transit System: 

What is it? A multi-county (Wake, Durham, Orange) effort focused on future transit improvements that includes buses, commuter rail and light rail.

When? Ongoing, for example, additional train service was recently added between Raleigh and Charlotte.  A new route from Downtown Raleigh to RDU has also been recently proposed.  

Key issues? An ambitious transit system plan covering an expansion of bus service and the addition of commuter and light rail is being developed.  The plan is a first step to secure needed funding through a 1/2 cent sales tax to be voted on by referendum – date not set, but likely next fall.

What’s happening now? A Public Meeting is schedule for June 28th, as part of a Federally prescribed alternatives analysis needed to support federal funding of major capital investments.  See a preview of the presentation here.

High Speed Rail: 

What is it? The Southeast High Speed Rail (SEHSR) is part of a project to extend high speed rail from the Northeast (Boston / Washington D.C.) through Virginia (Richmond / Petersburg) and North Carolina (Raleigh / Charlotte).

When? That’s the big question, and most people think we’re still 10-15 years away.  But, there is a federal push for this project, and NC was recently awarded $520 million in federal recovery funds for the section between Raleigh and Charlotte.

Key issues?  A study is underway that reviews two alternatives for the project corridor that could have major implications on the Downtown area.  A recent article from the Raleigh Connoisseur blog provides a good understanding of the alternatives for having the corridor follow the existing Norfolk Southern (NS) line, or the Eastern Branch following the existing CSX line.

What’s happening now? The City Council appointed an 11-member Passenger Rail Task Force to advise the Council on issues related to the passenger rail service.  A Public Hearing is schedule for July 26th to review the recently completed draft environmental statement, a key step towards implementing the service.  


Union Station / Transit Oriented Development: 

What is it?  Union Station is the name given to a Multi-Modal Transit Center, sometimes referred to as Raleigh’s “Grand Central Station”.  In addition to serving as a rail station for high-speed, commuter and light rail, ‘Union Station’ would provide bus platforms for Greyhound, Triangle Transit and Capital Area Transit.  

The 2030 Comprehensive Plan provides guidelines to encourage integrated mixed use transit oriented development which can be served by and support a regional transit system, including the development of and around Union Station and the rail corridor. 

When?  Probably a decade away, but as the station is being designed as a hub for retail, commercial and residential growth, there’s a need to finalize the design parameters that can start to attract the needed private investments.

Key issues?  The proposed location along the intersecting tracks west of Downtown is described as the most complicated section of rail crossings and junctions in the state.  A phased approach is planned, but the overall price tag of Union Station is estimated to be in the range of $200 million, with the expectation that federal funding will cover 80% of the cost.  

What’s happening now?  A draft report on the Multi-Modal Transit Center was released in April, followed by a public review meeting on May 12th.  There is an excellent summary of the report written by the Raleigh Connoisseur. 

A public workshop has been scheduled for June 24th, to study Capital Boulevard’s unused land along the rail corridor, and how best to to transform Capital Boulevard into a vibrant mixed-use northern gateway into Downtown Raleigh.  The vision even includes a riverwalk.

 

I appreciate living in one of the fastest growing cities in the US.  It takes foresight and imagination on the part of our city officials to manage this growth.  Join me in letting them know, if they build it, we will come!

Cul de Sacs vs Street Corners: What Is Your Neighborhood’s “Walk Score”?

January 26, 2010 /

Do you know there is a “walk score” that has been developed to find out if you live in a walkable neighborhood?  It calculates the pedestrian friendliness of your address by locating nearby stores, restaurants and parks.  A recent article in the New York Times cites that “walkability” is becoming an increasingly important factor in selecting a home.  The ability to walk places without having to get into a car is listed as one of the most important reasons people choose to live Downtown.

Of course there are  obvious health benefits to walking, but it’s clearly something more that causes people to want to leave their cars behind.  Imagine making those routine, short trips to do errands on foot.  You greet your neighbors on the sidewalk and come home from the dry cleaners having had a brisk walk, rather than feeling annoyed over the difficulty in finding a parking place.  Then layer in the burden of devoting more and more money (gasoline cost) and time (traffic congestion) to serve your dependency on your car… 

Welcome to Downtown living!  Since suburban patterns of living are designed for the car, breaking free often means choosing to live in more densely populated areas in the Downtown, where the pedestrian experience is enhanced as shops can locate closer together and mass transit can be offered as an alternative to walking for longer trips and inclement weather.

Economic forces have made it increasingly clear to our Raleigh City officials of the need to find alternatives to suburban sprawl, and to begin a concerted effort focused on re-development and infill.  The 2030 Plan adopted last year is designed to funnel much of the city’s growth to Downtown, and this year the city has embarked on an ambitious project to rewrite the long standing Development Codes.

Changing behavior can be a hard thing to do, and the Downtown Living Advocates appreciate the challenges facing the City of Raleigh, which has only recently started to focus on luring more businesses and residents to make the choice to locate Downtown. 

The DLA also understands why “walkability” is such an important part in making our Downtown Raleigh an attractive place to live.   Our members live downtown. Raleigh sidewalks line our front doors.  We know first hand how the pedestrian experience is enhanced with a greater variety of ground floor retail, sidewalks that are wide, clean and safe, and with the proper balance of open space.  In many ways, this is a return to the settings we all knew before malls and cul-de-sacs.  

Our group is closely following and supporting the city’s efforts in revitalizing the Downtown, including Development Codes, which establish the rules that define how development happens on our streets and neighborhoods . . and support “walkability”.

We invite you to join us in this important effort.

The Bus Stops Here! R-Line Answers Downtown Raleigh’s Transportation Needs

January 5, 2010 /

The free Eco-friendly (hybrid electric) R-Line bus service started in February 2009, as a way to help to connect employees, residents and visitors to retail, restaurants and entertainment venues in different parts of the Downtown loop.  

The city’s YouRHere branding is hard to miss as the big green and blue colored buses navigate their 20 stops throughout the Downtown rea.  You never have to walk too far to an R-Line bus stop, and with 2 buses running along the 25 minute circular route, the longest wait is only around 12 minutes.

Coming up on  its one year anniversary, ridership numbers show that residents, commuters, and visitors all love their new way of getting around Downtown. 

 

 

Source: Ridership numbers provided by City of Raleigh – Transit.

The ridership numbers show that about 570 people ride the R-Line each weekday,  indicating that Downtown daytime workers are enjoying the convenience of taking the bus to reach their favorite lunch spot.  However, weekends are even more popular, with an average of 800 riders on Saturdays.  A closer look shows that the heaviest times are weekend evenings (3-11pm),  when both residents and visitors take the R-Line to reach their destination restaurant or entertainment venue.  

 

Source: Ridership numbers provided by City of Raleigh – Transit.

The R-Line can also serve as a great way to safely get back to your car after a night out on the town, though weekend late night (11pm-2am) ridership has remained relatively low.

One of the goals of the service  is to encourage more people from the “burbs” to take advantage of the city’s underused parking desks on evenings and weekends, using the service to easily reach other parts of the city.  (See our related blog posts “Cars Are Here, but Parking is Not on Glenwood South”, and “Are you a Raleigh First Friday Newbie?”.)  

It’s not possible to tell from the numbers if indeed Downtown visitors have begun to park and ride, so please take a moment and  fill out our Survey.

New changes coming to the R-LIne in 2010

There are two  significant changes coming that will be welcomed by R-Line riders.  First, sometime next spring a passenger information website will be available  allowing riders to see online where the R-Line buses are located “real time”.  Additionally, the city is working on installing three bus shelters along the route early next year.  One will be at the Convention Center, with the other locations still to be confirmed.

 

 

 

 

Full Speed Ahead! Citing broad benefits from High Speed Rail, the DLA makes recommendations to B.E.D. Committee

October 25, 2009 /
Readers of the DLA blog may be questioning what all the noise is about, when it comes to downtown trains. Clearly, this has been a useful forum for discussion among downtown residents.  But the DLA’s interest goes far beyond early morning train whistles.  
 
On October 13th, the DLA presented recommendations on the subject of the high speed train and Quiet Zone to the city’s Budget & Economic Development Committee.  The recommendations addressed the short term issue of downtown residents’ concern regarding noise from train horns [to view our previous post click here], but also included a much broader range of issues associated with the High Speed Rail Initiative and the related implications of a Quiet Zone.
 
Proposed short term solution to train horns to be tested

At the meeting, the Committee agreed with the DLA’s recommendation to pilot a project that would test the sound impact of localizing the train horn at the crossings, rather than have the trains operators blow the horn along the entire the downtown corridor.   Since studies indicate a minimal cost per crossing, this change offers a viable short-term solution ahead of the High Speed Rail Initiative.  Once high speed rail become a reality, the associated federal guidelines will eliminate the noise from train horns and the more important impact of vibration.
 
In the larger context, the DLA is continuing its efforts to encourage the city to set policies and guidelines maximizing benefits of High Speed Rail to the city and region.  In addition to an in-depth study analyzing the various successful high speed projects from around the country, the DLA provided the B.E.D. Committee with expert opinion on urban design guidelines within the context of the city and the downtown area. Efforts in this regard parallel and enforce the recommendations of the City’s 2030 Plan that was recently adopted in late September.  
 
 
The study concludes that the benefits of high speed rail to the city and region are numerous.  For example, it will help curb building and enlarging highways to meet the population growth, as well as reducing congestion and instigating a green and multiple approach to transportation within and outside the city. The downtown benefits include an increase in buildable space through a reduction in the requirements for parking, and the consolidation of unused land along the rail corridors.
 
Note: This DLA initiative is being led by Mr. Saf Fahim of Archronica Architects a DLA member and an internationally recognized Urbanist and Architect with offices in Raleigh and New York City.  Mr. Fahim has volunteered his and his firm’s time and expertise on behalf of the DLA members and downtown residents. 

DLA Takes Leading Role to Quiet Downtown Train Noise

September 29, 2009 /
Trains that wind through the Downtown area with their horns sounding late into the night and through the early morning have always been a source of disturbance to residents.  But with more people choosing to live Downtown, residents have come forward in numbers to seek relief and request assistance from the DLA.
 
The DLA has taken the initiative to get involved in the process to find a suitable solution for all parties, including the train companies, city officials, the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO), and Downtown residents.  
 
You might say . . . Yes, but this is a long standing problem, legal requirements as well as safety conditions for pedestrians and motorists at street crossings warrant the sounding of horns.
 
Clearly any solution would need to respect the safety conditions at the crossings, but alternatives do exist and have been used successfully in other cities;  solutions that can at least minimize the disturbing impact of the sound of train horns to residents in the short term, while planning for horn noise to be eliminated in the longer term.
 
One answer is simply to wait for the SEHR to arrive in Raleigh, and the problem essentially goes away.  As you may know, the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor (SEHR) is a passenger rail transportation project extending high speed rail services from Washington D.C. through Richmond and Petersburg in Virginia and onto Raleigh and Charlotte in North Carolina.  New tracks and grade separated street crossings will be required to handle these faster trains, negating the need for train horns altogether, as well as rerouting existing tracks for freight service.
 
While enduring the train horn disturbance for the interim is not a viable solution for residents, city officials could accept the status quo as a means of avoiding the  need to potentially spend significant funds for specialized four quadrant crossing gates which would eliminate the train noise, but would eventually have to be dismantled as they do not meet the high speed train standards.
 
Over the past three months, the DLA has been focusing on finding both short and long term solutions that city officials, the various agencies, and the Downtown residents can accept.  The DLA sees the train noise as being an integral part of the overall transportation corridor project, where the train tracks will not only serve the high speed corridor, but also the newly planned commuters light rail and the freight line.   At the request of the Budget and Economic Development Committee in late June, the DLA researched the establishment of a quiet zone that would require train companies to stop sounding train horns through a designated quarter-mile area within the city.  Unfortunately, to qualify for a quiet zone, the city would need to show no effect on safety, and could face costly liability issues.  A better short-term solution now being recommended would be to install an Automated Horn System (AHS) that can be installed at each key crossing which would reduce significantly the noise impact of the train horn.  DLA’s research shows the system to be cost effective and easy to install, directing the sound down onto track crossing where it is needed, and therefore creating less impact to the surrounding buildings.
 
The DLA has been requested by the mayor to present a progress report to the Budget and Economic Development Committee at their meeting scheduled for October 13th, and is committed to continuing its ongoing effort in this project on behalf of current and future Downtown residents. International Urbanist and Architect Saf Fahim, Design Principal of Archronica Architects, is a member of the DLA Advisory Committee and is leading this initiative. 
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