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Triangle road & traffic thread


uptownliving

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I know once there is a lot of construction in this area, but how do you think the area will be after the construction is finished? I think the area has a ton of potential but its ghost town right now. Do you think more retail and restaurants will come?

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Since I first came to Durham a little less than a year ago, activity has certainly picked up downtown. Retail and restaurants will come as more people move in. Right now it seems the focus is on housing with all the developers/real estate/architects setting up shop in the area.

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The last segments of the current phase of improvements in downtown Durham won't be done for another year. Main Street is scheduled to be done in February 2007, and the realigned and redesigned Corcoran Street won't be done until March 2007.

All of the projects currently underway only count as phases I and II of Durham's downtown street improvement plans. Phase III involves actually converting the loop into two-way streets, and is scheduled to last from 2007 to 2009; Phase IV does streetscaping on all the remaining streets inside the loop, and is scheduled to happen from 2008-2009.

The detailed plans for Phases I & II combined look like this:

downtown_improvements01.jpg

The completed plan will be something like this:

durhamstreets.gif

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I'm curious to find out what will become of the current DATA terminal after service is moved to the new transit center. I hope it won't become another parking lot. The last thing downtown Durham needs is another empty parking lot.

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actually on MSNBC the weather ticker tape just says Raleigh without the NC.

I have said it here before but about the coolest thing I have ever seen is when I have been in Asia and watching CNN/World or BBC/world, they show weather around the world, particularly for travelers. They put lists of cities up in each region of the world. For North America, they may put Houston, NYC, Chicago, Seattle and LA. They don't put the state moniker. A couple of times, I have seen Raleigh on the list. It has to be for techies coming in from Asia (and maybe other reasons). I want to get up and cheer !!

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I'm curious to find out what will become of the current DATA terminal after service is moved to the new transit center. I hope it won't become another parking lot. The last thing downtown Durham needs is another empty parking lot.

From the map above, it appears that it will become a traffic island. Might be a good place for a pocket park. It would be cool to have a little snack shop there, but it might become somewhat inaccessible when all the streets are realigned.

Has anyone heard what will become of the old Trailways station on Morgan?

Am I reading the map correctly- is it suggesting that part of Morris become a pedestrian mall?

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Am I reading the map correctly- is it suggesting that part of Morris become a pedestrian mall?
The complete plan does show closing Morris to traffic, but I think that's an earlier plan from before they city knew just what they wanted to do at the intersection of Chapel Hill and Main. I believe The currently underway streetscape improvements will turn that into a five-way, full-movement intersection. The first map just means that there won't be any streetscape improvements on Morris for phases I and II.
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I'd love to see the triangle of land the South Bank building is on turned into either a park/courtyard or a solid block of retail with housing above. I can see this area along with the soon-to-be former DATA terminal becoming vital connection between the "loop" and West Village.

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  • 3 weeks later...

More on teh article from WRAL. Its recommended that you watch the video, its easier to understand.

First off, i really believe the EAST/WEST directional banners need to be gone. Even freaken WRAL still labels the BELTLINE to be OUTER and INNER! Please bring back the INNER and OUTER direction banners (i know this wont happen!).

Dont remove the Wake Forest destination but also add downtown Raleigh in CAPITAL LETTTERS.

Dropping the speed limit due to irresponsible teen drivers going over 100mph with the possibility of alchohol being a factor makes absolutely NO sense based on that reasoning (6 empty beer cans were discovered in teh vehicle, toxicolgy tests are pending). If NCDOT claimed the interchange area needed to be 55mph, why didnt they do it BEFORE? The ramp itself is a joke being in the 21st century, why wasent a high speed flyover ramp (safe to go at 65mph... with a 70mph design speed) constructed with a exit also included for Poole Road?

The ramp from 64 to the INNER beltline (IOW EAST 440) needs to do the following things in order to aware motorists that 65mph, i mean NOW 55mph or greater is not safe to travel teh ramp.

1. Place rumble strips in advance. Let motorists know about a 1/4 a mile before the roadway splits that the ramp they are approaching will not be recommended to travel safely at normal conditions.

2. Install large chevron signs indicating the curve of the ramp.

3. Place safe speed ramp SIGNS at 45-50mph in RED. The little bitty 50mph safe speed at the CURVE arrows is not good. Motorists will probably not take it serious or wont see it clearly. I went 70mph and started to lose control a bit testing the ramp out myself a few weeks ago.

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This is not directly related to US 1 in Wake County but since NCDOT is seeking to freewayize US 1 pretty much through teh whole state, its not impossible someday that you can go from Raleigh to Columbus, GA almost all by freeway. All you need is SCDOT to widen US 1 from the NC/SC state line to Camden. After that, hop onto I-20 towards Augusta, GA, depart at I-520 (bobby jones expwy) and then follow the Fall Line Freeway alignment. For anyone unfamilar with GA, heres the statewide map.

US 1 between Augusta and northern New Jersey parallels the Fall Line.

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Flyovers aren't typically designed for 70 mph, they are designed for 50 or 60 mph, so i think the idea is to get people slowed down to the posted ramp speed before they approach the ramps. I do think that this smacks of overreaction to an issue that should really have a lot more to do with unsafe teen driving (+alcohol?) than roadway signing.

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This may sound crass, but perhaps a sign that says,"No drunk driving 100+ on this exit" would keep that from happening again. My gutters are full, I think I'll go plant daisies to fix the problem. :wacko: I hate it when masses of people are punished for the actions of a very few.

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I just got back from visiting Raleigh-Durham. I have always known that the areas roadways are astoudingly dark, but this time it really struck me hard. I am not just shocked, but outraged. Portions of I-40 through Wake County look like it is in the middle of the desert. I can't believe there hasn't been more of an outcry about the inadequate lighting.

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  • 1 month later...

I just got back from visiting Raleigh-Durham. I have always known that the areas roadways are astoudingly dark, but this time it really struck me hard. I am not just shocked, but outraged. Portions of I-40 through Wake County look like it is in the middle of the desert. I can't believe there hasn't been more of an outcry about the inadequate lighting.

Try driving it during a thunderstorm - terrifying. No light, invisble lanes because of pavement markings and reflectors long eroded away, a dangerous stretch of highway in bad weather, though it is very well landscaped. This is a Triangle-wide problem - the Chapel Hill bypass is pitch dark, and I've had some scary near-miss deer encounters, and there was a pedestrian death out there late this winter. Ditto for 15-501 in south Chapel Hill, which passes a few big resedential areas, and 15-501 (a busy stretch of highway) in Durham between I-40 and I-85.

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