42 replies to this topic

[urbanesq]

rooster8, on May 13 2005, 11:21 AM, said:

In the short term, I could see a justification for going out to Zebulon on the north side and Clayton on the south, but Wilson and Goldsboro would probably have to wait.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I dunno.  There are two people in our downtown Raleigh office who commute in from Wilson every day.  It would seem the lack of jobs and affordability of housing in these cities make them commuter suburbs, even though they're an hour away.  I think it's a great idea, and could be part of an overall strategy to restore economic vitality to the eastern past of the state while increasing mobility options into Raleigh.

[ChiefJoJo]

As a part of the SENC Passenger rail study--see first bullet item, the NCDOT Rail Division has said that the most likely trial for a commuter rail project will be the Selma to Raleigh corridor.  Apparently, this can be done within a relatively short amount of time and reasonable amount of money--say 3 years of design/implementation and less than $80 million--once the funding could become available.  Very promising for rail in NC!  

Edited by ChiefJoJo, 28 July 2005 - 10:17 AM.

[orulz]

A big reason why Raleigh-Selma commuter service could happen easily and quickly is that NCRR is already working on upgrades to the corridor. This press release says that they're already in the process of building three new sidings and adding CTC, which will allow for 80mph passenger trains. I might already have posted that link somewhere, but oh well.

Another thing on the NCRR between Raleigh and Selma that just bothers me is the old, single-track, open deck bridge over South Street. I'm hoping that they replace it when South and Lenoir are converted to 2-way traffic in the 2nd phase of the Fayetteville Street Renaissance. A new bridge there should be wide enough for two tracks - like the ones over Dawson/Lenoir, Mcdowell, and Martin Luther King. That could increase the capacity in the wye area by quite a bit. It would also eliminate the choke point in South Street - which is not a problem for one-way traffic, but might be an issue after the two-way conversion.