{"id":22734,"date":"2015-03-18T07:05:55","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T11:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=22734"},"modified":"2015-03-17T20:39:38","modified_gmt":"2015-03-18T00:39:38","slug":"city-aims-to-reduce-traffic-improve-travel-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/city-council\/2015\/03\/18\/city-aims-to-reduce-traffic-improve-travel-times\/","title":{"rendered":"City Aims to Reduce Traffic, Improve Travel Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

City Council in their regular session Tuesday heard information about the 2030 Comprehensive Plan, a transportation improvement program and plans to renovate the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium.<\/p>\n

Ken Bowers, the project director for the 2030 Comprehensive Plan, gave a progress report to councilors that included a summary of rezoning cases that were either approved or denied.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

James Borden \/ Raleigh Public Record<\/p>

The former Two Guys Pizza and Amina’s Cafe have been torn down and will be replaced by a controversial student-housing development approved last year<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cLast year, there were twenty-three zoning cases, twenty that were approved and three that were denied,\u201d Bowers said.<\/p>\n

Four cases inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan were approved by council. Three of those four cases were designated \u201cmoderate density residential\u201d under the Future Land Use map and one \u2014 Z-27-13 \u2014 resulted in an amendment to the Future Land Use map.<\/p>\n

There were five text changes proposed in 2014, with four initiated by staff and one initiated through a citizen petition. Three of the text changes were approved, with the other two pending a decision.<\/p>\n

The report was sent to the Planning Commission for further recommendation.<\/p>\n

\"As<\/a>

As Raleigh has grown, so have its traffic problems<\/p><\/div>\n

Todd Delk, a senior planning engineer for the city, presented an update for the transportation improvement program for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.<\/p>\n

The update to the transportation improvement program is the first since phasing out the \u201cEquity Formula,\u201d which had been prioritizing the state\u2019s transportation funds since 1989. The new formula, according to a city memo, will \u201ccreate a data-driven, transparent process that maximizes travel and economic benefits with limited transportation funding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOn some cases, we lucked out and got new projects,\u201d Delk said.<\/p>\n

The data-driven process focused on highlighting projects that would reduce congestion and improve travel time between areas. Five new bridge projects were approved, including the Pullen Road Bridge at Western Boulevard and the Capital Boulevard Bridge at Crabtree Creek.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also see some multimodal projects coming along,\u201d Delk said.<\/p>\n

The projects defunded under the new formula were the widening of Glenwood Avenue and a grade separation between Blue Ridge Road, Hillsborough Street, and the North Carolina railroad.<\/p>\n

Jim Lavery from the Performing Arts Center updated city council about the plans to renovate the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium.<\/p>\n

\"Raleigh<\/a>

Google Maps<\/p>

Raleigh Memorial Auditorium<\/p><\/div>\n

The main plans include an attempt to brighten the features of the building by adding LED lights. Other mentioned renovations included \u201ccleaning up the look\u201d of the interior of the building, bringing the lobby to one level, and having a new memorial wall, which will memorialize fallen soldiers from the area who fought in one of the U.S. wars.<\/p>\n

Councilor Crowder asked about the lifesaving adjustments being made to the building, including the installation of an elevator. It was said that the new lifesaving adjustments will mostly include fire safety devices, such as sprinklers.<\/p>\n

Councilor Baldwin asked about external signage to let drivers know what events are going on in the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium. It was said that money had been allotted for such a sign.<\/p>\n

All items were approved on the consent agenda and public hearings were set for five Planning Commission items.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

City Council on Tuesday discussed the 2030 Comprehensive Plan, a traffic improvement project and renovation plans for the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1503513,"featured_media":5409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22734"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1503513"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}