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I think it's good that the state is investing in improving the roads, but all you have to do is look at cities like DC, Atlanta and LA to know that this is not a long-term solution. More traffic capacity always attracts more traffic. If we don't want to end up like the above-mentioned cities, NC and the Triangle region have to get serious about mass transit (i.e. more than just a single rail line from Chapel Hill to Durham).
IMO, there should be light rail coming into Raleigh and RTP from all directions, with major terminals on the interstates (e.g. all along I-540 for trains into Downtown Raleigh) where people can park their cars and take the train to work.
Simply adding more lanes to existing highways is not a long-term, sustainable solution to increased traffic due to population growth.
I am hoping that if a transit sales tax passes in Wake, that it will serve to lessen the importance of municipal boundaries in transit planning. For example, several Raleigh buses serve southwest Raleigh but stop a couple miles short of somewhere really useful: Crossroads. The only bus providing rush hour service between Cary and Raleigh, the TTA 301, is a slow meandering mess. The New Bern Ave and South Saunders Street buses stop at the city line, but there are dense neighborhoods a couple miles down the road in Garner and Knightdale with lots of people who would benefit from bus service, if they had it.
Agree 100%. It's crazy that there are only like six buses a day between Garner and DTR.
I wonder if the state DOT is treating Orange County and Durham County light rail as two separate projects to get around that new cap on how much state funding an individual project can receive. Perhaps the county designation isn't particularly important, and the state funds go to the light rail project as a whole.
I'm really just guessing, but it seems plausible that the DOT would allow this loophole in the new rules if they wanted to greenlight the project, which would be encouraging news.
Orange County is in NCDOT division 7 and Duham is in division 5 so maybe that's why.
10 more years until they start fixing the bottleneck on I-40 westbound at US 15-501. Ugh. I can't imagine what it's going to be like 5+ years from now as traffic continues to grow.
Of all the things on the list, that is the one I can't believe is at the end. They needed this 5 years ago (or more).
Is it? From DTR, I thought the mileage was about the same whether you take 1 to I-85 or 64 to I-95, although I haven't Google Mapped it in a while.
I would think so, because DC is north, northeast of Raleigh. There is no straight line road to DC from Raleigh, but taking US 1, to I-85, to I-95 in Petersburg is the closest non-stoplight straight line road there is. Taking US 64 to I-95 in Rocky Mount is mostly an eastern course of about 50 miles, when you need to travel much more northernly than easternly to get to DC.
I just mapped it on Google Maps using Crabtree Valley Mall as the starting point.
Using US 1 / I-85 it's 263 miles and 4 hours 26 minutes.
Using US 64 / I-95 it's 279 miles and 4 hours 24 minutes.
You can also take 70 west to I-85 in Durham and then hit 95 in Petersburg = 274 miles, or take creedmoor rd all the way up to oxford and get on I-85 there = 263 miles.
So there are four decent options with roughly about the same time and distance. I do think US-1 north of 540 should be a freeway though. I personally like taking Creedmoor rd to 85 when I travel north, although now living in Apex I usually take NC-540 to NC-147 to Ellis to Miami to 70 west to I-85. It sounds complected, but it's the shortest and quickest way from where I live.
With the new Wake County Commissioners, it will be interesting to see if they now team up with Orange/Durham.
^^^ This!
Looking at other Mulitnodal Metropolitan areas. Dallas/Ft. Worth, Seattle/Tacoma, Minneapolis/St. Pete. Washington DC Metro. The only way these plans work well is if the cities of Raleigh and Durham work with the surrounding towns to get transit ideas flowing and incorporate light rail, bus etc. They should have teamed up years ago. It doesn't work nearly as well when everyone tries to do their own thing.
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