Wednesday, September 8, 2010
The Crowder Plan: Use the High-Speed Rail project to remake the Capital Boulevard "Valley"
- Photocomposition by Warren Gentry
- Image courtesy of Don't Railroad Historic Five Points
What's the next big thing in Raleigh? Try this: We put together the Dan Douglas plan for an urban (even European) Capital Boulevard with TTA light-rail and one of the hybrid routes for the DOT's Southeast High-Speed Rail project, then add the plan so many have talked about for a greenway "riverwalk" on the it-doesn't-have-to-be-fetid Pigeon House Branch creek north of downtown.
It all adds up to City Councilor Thomas Crowder's proposal yesterday to "think big" about high-speed rail and the possibilities for Raleigh if we get it right and, first things first, don't get it wrong. Here's what Crowder said: SEHSR_Corrdor_Proposal.pdf
His takeaway message:
Therefore, I request the Council propose this partnership fund, carefully study and seriously consider extending the downtown road grid network north along the Capital Boulevard Valley to the intersection of US #1 and Wake Forest Road, aligning the SEHSR Corridor from this intersection south to West Street via an elevated viaduct shared with Triangle Transit lines over a rehabilitated and potentially realigned Pigeon House Branch watercourse integrated into a heavily landscaped urban greenway and a stormwater control system below it, creating the multi-modal transportation infrastructure needed for an urban scale mixed-use, mixed-income expansion of downtown.
The city already has a Capital Boulevard corridor study underway. The first meeting was in June. The next one is the last weekend in October. (Update: It's set for Saturday, October 30. 9-5 at the Carolina Trust Building, 230 Fayetteville Street — thanks, Trisha Hasch.)
The good news from DOT on the SEHSR project so far: They want to work with Raleigh to get this right. Or so they say.
The bad news: Raleigh doesn't have a plan for getting it right. Until citizens ginned up the hybrid routes, city officials were married to the NC3 alternative, which is better than the NC1/NC2 options, but not by a lot.
Whether the kind of ambitious, grand scheme Crowder has in mind is possible, who knows? He's imagining a sustained effort using federal, state and city funds from so many different sources (HUD, EPA, federal and state DOTs, etc.) that it sounds far-fetched. On the other hand, there was a report on NPR this morning from a reporter returning to duty in Shanghai, China after five years in Europe. When he left Shanghai, he said, the city had two subway lines. Five years later, it has 13.
To pull this kind of effort together, the first thing required is the vision. Well, as all those links I put up at the top of this post should demonstrate, lots of people in Raleigh have the vision. We have the planning expertise as well. What we need now is the leadership.
Comments (5)
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Is this the same Thomas Crowder who is yet to get sidewalks along Lake Wheeler Road? Kids walking home from the school bus on dirt paths?
I thought so.
It is very excting to hear a politician say he'd like to get it right from the beginning. Our growth is inevitable and vision is necessary. And by the way, don't speak for me orulz; I live in 5 Points and it sounds like a pretty cool idea.
I have to admit that the idea of a remake of the entire Capital Blvd valley is a nice prospect. But is this likely to happen, or will stopping the HSR line in order to study it simply take the wind out of the sails of the HSR project?
In order for a "remake" of the Capital Boulevard corridor to happen, let's identify the stakeholders that would have to be on board.
(1) Neighborhoods. Rebuilding the grid means adding new connections between the neighborhoods like Mordecai and Brooklyn/Five Points to the Capital Boulevard corridor. You better believe that residents would come out in force to oppose any such new connections if they get the slightest inkling that it's being "forced" on them by the outside, rather than proposed by the neighborhoods themselves.
(2) Railroads. CSX, NS, and NCDOT Rail, which between them own all of the rail lines and yards on both sides of the valley, need to be on board. In order for this to really work, all these rail yards probably need to be moved and the railroads consolidated into a single corridor. NS for one has explicitly said that they don't want to move, so not only do you have to get them to change their minds, you have to have a workable solution in hand for relocating their yard operations. I don't think CSX has taken a position but you can bet theirs will be similar.
3) NCDOT Highways. Any redesign of Capital Blvd must not result in traffic gridlock.
4) Businesses and land owners along capital Boulevard. Unless you want to use eminent domain to condemn every piece of property between the railroads, adding up to about 250 acres, you have to bring land owners on board.
5) Environmental agencies. You would have to prove that daylighting and improving Pigeon House Branch, and mitigating whatever horrible environmental problems exist through there, is going to provide enough environmental benefit to be worth the money, in order for them to provide any funds.
6) Developers. Some of this would have to be funded by developers, through TIF or whatever. You would need to have enough developers who are willing to develop in order to get enough revenue. This would also affect #1 above, because in order for developers to provide enough money, this development would have to be at downtown-level density, and the neighborhoods would likely oppose such density so close by.
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