How will the Triangle look with a population of 2+ million?

[willrusso]

I'm actually planning on moving to Atlanta. But I'm scared of the traffic!! My cousin down there tells me that during rush hour, your commute can take up to 2 hours on a bad day. That's only to go 15-20 miles one way. That is ridiculous. I'm trying to find a place inside the Beltway ("the Perimeter" as they call it) near a MARTA station so I can take the train to work.

The bad thing about Atlanta is that they cannot extend MARTA into the surrounding counties to create a true regional system. The surrounding counties refuse to let MARTA in because they're scared its going to draw city riff raff. If that's not the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

Look at other cities with regional subway or heavy rail systems. You almost never hear about anyone from the inner city projects taking the train out into the suburbs to rob your quiet house on the cul-de-sac. Hello.. that's what cars are for if you want to get technical.

[blburton]

The bad thing about Atlanta is that they cannot extend MARTA into the surrounding counties to create a true regional system. The surrounding counties refuse to let MARTA in because they're scared its going to draw city riff raff. If that's not the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

[Atlside]

I wonder when north Orange County will really grow as well as northern Durham County.

It seems like in the Hillsborough area off of I-85 would be a much better location to grow Orange County, seeing Chapel Hill and Carrboro are so anti growth in southern Orange County.

[JDC]

The bad thing about Atlanta is that they cannot extend MARTA into the surrounding counties to create a true regional system. The surrounding counties refuse to let MARTA in because they're scared its going to draw city riff raff. If that's not the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

Look at other cities with regional subway or heavy rail systems. You almost never hear about anyone from the inner city projects taking the train out into the suburbs to rob your quiet house on the cul-de-sac. Hello.. that's what cars are for if you want to get technical.

[NCMike1981]

Hillsborough apparantely has a tiny water supply which doesn't allow them to grow too fast, plus they are still a tad wary of growth although not nearly so much as Chapel Hill/Carrboro

[bullcity76]

I wonder when north Orange County will really grow as well as northern Durham County.

It seems like in the Hillsborough area off of I-85 would be a much better location to grow Orange County, seeing Chapel Hill and Carrboro are so anti growth in southern Orange County.

[Jones_]

That's all my mom used to complain about when the MBTA (Boston) opened up the commuter rail lines in the '90s. She was so worried that there would be criminals coming out to the 'burbs via train and destroying suburbia.

I've heard people call government subsidized transit "social engineering" - I think it's the other way around: the lack of publicly-funded transit is social engineering, because you're essentially telling those without cars (for this argument's sake, the poor) where they're not allowed. I suppose that's part of the reason the McMansion cul-de-sac subdivisions are built so far away from what I call "civilization."

[DwnTwnRaleighGuy]

With the Triangle region,(read Consolidated Metro Area's), already at 1,500,000 people it shouldn't take anymore than say 5 years to reach 2 million people. So it is my guess that we will reach the 2M mark by Jan. 2012 and hopefully our region will be a little more urban by then as well. (Yes, I know sub-urban as well.)