The Raleigh Bike Plan: First Public Workshop
Raleigh is developing a bicycle plan with funding from the NC Department of Transportation. Greenways Incorporated is the company engaged to manage this plan’s development by conducting “extensive fieldwork, evaluating the current bicycling conditions and creating a Bicycle Level of Service (BLOS) for Raleigh roadways. The goal of the inventory and analysis will be to identify gaps in the bicycle network and opportunities for bicycle facility development.” The first planning event is April 2nd from 4- 7pm. Citizens can drop by and share their experiences and opinions. The event will be held at the Glen Eden Pilot Neighborhood Center at 1500 Glen Eden Drive Informational Flyer Greenways Inc Informational Page
Triangle Regional Rail Back on Track
Back in 2005 the headlines were saying Regional Rail In Peril and Easy, cheap rail proves elusive. On Monday, The Special Transit Advisory Commission’s recommendation of the triangle rail set those headlines as past circumstances.Although, that doesn’t mean the rail will now be easy… or cheap.
Transit Transitions: A Call to Action
This election brought a lot of new progressive leadership to Cary (new mayor) and Raleigh (new progressive majority on council). The times they are a-changing. There was one upset in Chapel Hill and pundits are still puzzling over how the “dark horse” candidate beat out the incumbent. I don’t know, but I do note that he pledged to bike to all city council meetings and to be a “forceful advocate for cycling in Chapel Hill”. In San Francisco, real estate developers introduced a proposition that would increase parking spaces—in direct contrast to the city’s “transit first” policy. Local human-scale development activists organized the “Yes on A, No on H!” campaigning to defeat H and promote the proposition to increase funding for transit and the transit agency’s authority over the streets. More below the fold
Raleigh Bike Culture and Hallowheels Alleycat
As the bike culture in America gets trendier and trendier, Alleycat races are popping up in most urban cities across the country. A subculture has been created that is taking these areas by storm. Young kids of all ages and cultures are fixing up bikes graphically and stylistically. From Scraper Bikes, to Velospace, to fixing up old freestyle bikes, the DIY bike culture has hit a new high, only matched by that of the mid 80s (BMX and Messenger Culture and Film). Even musical artists are catching on to the craze. From The Cool Kids getting “busy as a bee on my bike grips” to Bat for Lashes and her animal crew cruising down an eerie Donnie Darko-esque night street scene doing spins and wheelies to PedalMafia and their constant coverage of NYC, bike culture in the US is ready to tackle small urban centers. Is Raleigh ready? I hope so….... Saturday will be your chance to see Raleigh’s version of this bike steez with Hallowheels, a cleverly named and well fun bike race in downtown Raleigh. Meet at Cup of Joe and have your bunny suit ready, I’ll have my video camera handy. More on Spooks and Spokes Below the Fold
Beltline Bullshit
Well, not really bullshit, it certainly needed repair; but with 10 months of beltline resurfacing coming to the south of the city- I imagine quite a few commuters are not excited about the alternate paths. The 13 miles of beltline from Wade Avenue to the 40 split east of the city will be slowly replaced every night from 9pm to 6am. Drivers are encouraged to go *way the hell out of the way* north of the city on 440 or 540. The fun starts tonight, the N&O has the gritty details: The work includes replacement of about a dozen broken concrete pavement slabs, with extensive repair work to the existing pavement elsewhere. After repairs are finished, all lanes in both directions will be topped with a layer of special asphalt called UltraThin. N&O UltraThin- the new Black.
Tomorrow Night: Roundabout Public Hearing
Tomorrow night (Tuesday October 2nd) is the public hearing for the roundabouts on Hillsborough Street—both at Pullen/Oberlin and at Morgan. They are separate projects: Kimley Horn is presenting the Hillsborough Streetscape from Dan Allen to Oberlin, including the roundabouts. and PBS&J is presenting the Morgan/Hillsborough roundabout. Public Hearings are at 7pm in Council Chambers and these two projects are first on the agenda. Details below the fold.
Hillsborough and Morgan Street Roundabout Design Meets Public Criticism
A skeptical audience voiced their critique of the Hillsborough and Morgan St. roundabout designs at the public hearing on August 15th. If the concerns raised were any indicator of the public’s view as a whole, then the designers will need to re-evaluate their concepts if they want their plan to meet the approval of the citizens… much less be approved by city council. While some positive comments were made there were many criticisms of the designs. Before showing the feedback, I am first listing the goals and design elements of the initial plans as presented by the project engineer and consultant project manager. Animation of the traffic design below the fold
Hillsborough and Morgan Street Roundabout Hearing
There will be a public hearing Wednesday, August 15th at 5:00 p.m. to review the preliminary roundabout design for the intersection of Morgan and Hillsborough St. The roundabout is part of a greater project that will convert Morgan Street to a two-way street. More on the hearing…
Make Raleigh a Cool City: a Letter from TTA
Hi all, I went to a great Sierra Club event last night with ~70 people plus some elected officials. The purpose of the meeting was for fun (free beer!) and to encourage Raleigh to join Cool Cities, which is a way for cities to reduce greenhouse gases despite the feds’ refusal to address the issue. This would put us in line with the Kyoto Protocol despite the country never signing it. Here’s more info about Cool Cities: http://www.coolcities.us/ Nine NC cities have signed so far, but not Raleigh or any others in Wake Co. Please go to the Sierra Club website and send an email to the Raleigh City Council and ask them to sign! Go to http://ncsierra.sierraclubaction.org/alertlist.asp and click on “Help Make Raleigh a Cool City”. The City Council is discussing this issue next Tuesday, August 7 at their 1:00 pm meeting, so any message you can send before then (or you could show up at the meeting!) will encourage them to sign. As supporters of bike and pedestrian issues, I think it’s obvious that a signed agreement to reduce carbon dioxide would probably result in increased funding to alternative transportation facilities – i.e., bike paths, bike lanes, public transit, sidewalks and crosswalks. So please check it out! And send this on to others in Raleigh or Wake Co. who may be interested. Perhaps Cary and other cities will follow suit. Thanks! Julie Woosley
Transit Update
The fever around our public transit is heating up. Last weeks City Council meeting addressed the sad state of affairs regarding busing. While Brier Creek and Towne North malls have reopened to buses, there are many other issues regarding busing and public transit. Anyone who has traveled to larger urban areas has experience with organized public transportation. As Raleigh increases its density, solid public transit that is convenient and comfortable is important to maintaining a high quality of life. During the city council meeting there was discussion about researching the lack of shelters and trash cans at most bus stops. This is a problem, particularly where bus use is at its heaviest on Capital Blvd., Wake Forest and Mill brook. Council members also discussed the location of bus stops as shopping centers and big box stores often sit far away from their closest stops. The balance lies between how close buses can come without slowing their route down. Mayor Meeker did push for the consideration of where bus stops lie within shopping centers and the acknowledging accessibility laws in a possible ordinance that would regulate the location of these stops. This Tuesday the Special Transit Advisory Commission will meet. They are providing a lot of public information about the issues they are considering. Their mission is to “Provide the technical basis for a regional Transit Blueprint that describes future transit corridors and planned or potential transit infastructure investments in the corridor.” The triangle has complicated issues regarding transit, lets hope that central Raleigh and the broader area get the attention they need, weather that means cyclists, automobiles or public transportation.
Raleigh Proposed Central Transportation Hub
Exciting news for our growing downtown as the city considers a Grand Central station. The station would house the city/TTA bus station, the Greyhound Station, and the Amtrak station. While the more affluent members of our audience may not have experienced public transit here in Raleigh, rest assured, there is much improvement needed. The centralization of these three stations would make transfers easier and give guests a much easier time in deciphering our transit system. HDR Architecture, Inc. willbe designing and planning the station, in doing so they will deliver a feasibility study, drawings and a development strategy for property in the area. The plan will be delivered early next summer. More below the fold
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