What would a light rail system look like assuming Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill all eventually get a line or two. Have a line run from UNC to DT Raleigh with stops at Southpoint, RTP, RDU, Harrison ave. in Cary, Fairgrounds/Stadium/Arena, NCSU, Raleigh Amtrak and then DT Raleigh? Then a feeder line to Duke/DT Durham running parallel to 147?
With Charlotte it's easier as a good chunk of industry is Uptown and there were existing bridges and tracks already in place. A metro with two cities and a college town spread out is a little harder but doable.
What would a light rail system look like assuming Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill all eventually get a line or two. Have a line run from UNC to DT Raleigh with stops at Southpoint, RTP, RDU, Harrison ave. in Cary, Fairgrounds/Stadium/Arena, NCSU, Raleigh Amtrak and then DT Raleigh? Then a feeder line to Duke/DT Durham running parallel to 147?
With Charlotte it's easier as a good chunk of industry is Uptown and there were existing bridges and tracks already in place. A metro with two cities and a college town spread out is a little harder but doable.
There's already heavy rail that runs that stretch. I've never understood why they don't figure out commuter rail, which could easily run from Garner to Burlington.
One of my college friends works at TTA now.
Aside from the politics of the issue, one of the bigger issues is that RDU would require jumping across I-40 to get there. That increases the cost by a huge amount, but it's likely the #1 destination people want from light rail.
This is the other issue: getting right of way from the commercial train lines has been hard enough for Amtrak. Getting a more consistent light rail going through is a non-starter for the commercial rail lines who have the contracts for those lines. I don't know how long those contracts for commercial right of way are.
For any light rail system to not only work in the Triangle, but to be equitably smart, that system would have to serve:
1. Southeast Raleigh
2. RDU
3. Downtown Raleigh
4. NCSU/Hillsborough St. area
5. Fairgrounds/PNC
6. North Raleigh
7. Harrison Ave. area
8. RTP
9. Southpoint/South Durham
10. Duke University/Duke Medical Center
11. Downtown Durham
12. UNC/Downtown Chapel Hill
Various spurs could eventually serve the Garner/Clayton area, the Knightdale area, Cary/Morrisville area, Northern Durham area, and even the Hillsborough area. If the system doesn't serve the populations most in need of public transportation, then it won't be fair to the fullest range of populations. If it doesn't serve the business commuter, it won't see the level of usage necessary. If it doesn't serve the airport, it is just stupid. And if it doesn't serve the downtown areas of the Triangle's 3 major metros, it is a farce.
I was just about to type that out. You'd need multiple loops in the Raleigh area for this to work. One hub from downtown Raleigh that serves Chapel Hill and Durham, and make it follow US 70, hitting North Hills, Crabtree, Pleasant Valley, Brier Creek, Southpoint, etc, and then redirects from downtown to Cary/Apex (hitting Crossroads as well), before terminating around Holly Springs. You could have that one stop at RDU. From the RDU station, you could then have another branch for RTP which basically hits key points through the Park to hit the major work spots.Biggest issue with trying to serve RTP is that RTP is not easily walkable. How many stops do you put in RTP to get to a critical mass of people? How do you get people from the light rail stop to their workplace? RTP was not built with mass transit in mind and it's going to take a lot of work to make that feasible.
Biggest issue with trying to serve RTP is that RTP is not easily walkable. How many stops do you put in RTP to get to a critical mass of people? How do you get people from the light rail stop to their workplace? RTP was not built with mass transit in mind and it's going to take a lot of work to make that feasible.
I was just about to type that out. You'd need multiple loops in the Raleigh area for this to work. One hub from downtown Raleigh that serves Chapel Hill and Durham, and make it follow US 70, hitting North Hills, Crabtree, Pleasant Valley, Brier Creek, Southpoint, etc, and then redirects from downtown to Cary/Apex (hitting Crossroads as well), before terminating around Holly Springs. You could have that one stop at RDU. From the RDU station, you could then have another branch for RTP which basically hits key points through the Park to hit the major work spots.
We filled out questionnaires in RTP, many years ago. It centered around mass transit and trains. I guess they wanted to get an idea of how the RTP workers felt about it. They spelled it out, that you'd be responsible for getting yourself from home to the train, most likely using large commuter lots. And then riding a bus from the train to work. I felt like it was a huge waste of time, in effect, doubling my commute times.
Sounds like the perfect fit for a monorail....is Walt Disney available?
Yup, I was pointing out that for it to be feasible initially, most of these places would have to be included. As far as RTP was concerned, I could easily see a self-contained bus service working, but it wouldn't be perfect. Maybe some enhanced shared ride services could help.
The larger point is that there are some defined destinations that would have to be included. In some of the early iterations the airport wasn't included, Southeast Raleigh wasn't included, etc. I think it would initially have to start with a single rail/loop that basically went from downtown Raleigh to Chapel Hill to Durham (or to Durham and then to Chapel Hill). The various other "destinations would have to then be served by spurs or some such.
loved that episode.
No but I hear this guy is.
What can (and does) serve all these destinations are busses. And it is increasing the frequency and reach of that service that Wake decided to spend the initial wave of funds upon.For any light rail system to not only work in the Triangle, but to be equitably smart, that system would have to serve:
1. Southeast Raleigh
2. RDU
3. Downtown Raleigh
4. NCSU/Hillsborough St. area
5. Fairgrounds/PNC
6. North Raleigh
7. Harrison Ave. area
8. RTP
9. Southpoint/South Durham
10. Duke University/Duke Medical Center
11. Downtown Durham
12. UNC/Downtown Chapel Hill
Various spurs could eventually serve the Garner/Clayton area, the Knightdale area, Cary/Morrisville area, Northern Durham area, and even the Hillsborough area. If the system doesn't serve the populations most in need of public transportation, then it won't be fair to the fullest range of populations. If it doesn't serve the business commuter, it won't see the level of usage necessary. If it doesn't serve the airport, it is just stupid. And if it doesn't serve the downtown areas of the Triangle's 3 major metros, it is a farce.
What can (and does) serve all these destinations are busses. And it is increasing the frequency and reach of that service that Wake decided to spend the initial wave of funds upon.
Commuter rail linking to Orange/Durham light rail (if/when it happens) is Phase 2.
With wi-fi and modern interior designs today’s busses are a sweet ride if residence and destination are in density zones that support bus service. Electric busses are being introduced into fleets. They’re not your dad’s bus.
Flexibility of routes, period of time between busses, and accommodation of new development give that option a big edge over fixed rail, not to mention capital investments levels.
I'm not reassured by the recently repeatedly mentioned subject of how hard the Canes will try to make things work in Raleigh. I was kinda hoping that was a given when Dundon bought the team.