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It really doesn't take a rocket scientist to have seen the future of Raleigh back then. One only had to look at cities that grew in the same model before us.
As for his foretelling of Glenwood South, I'd be interested in hearing more about that and the specific things that he said.
I'm sure it's funny to some to imagine Raleigh in the seventies struggling with growth issues when the population of the entire county wasn't yet 300,000. I remember those concerns after my family moved to the city in 1974. I guess it's all relative?
I think that it was difficult for many to wrap their heads around just how large Wake's population would become.
It wasn't just roads, it was schools and all sorts of other infrastructure. It's been many years but I remember the story of the person (woman or man?) who was basically run out of town on a rail for suggesting that the county would need X number of schools for a future enrollment number. The associated bond referendum was killed by the naysayers. Well, as one might imagine, the enrollment figures were spot on and the county had to scramble to support all the new students.
Likewise, I'll bet it's difficult for people to wrap their heads around Wake County having 1.5 million or 2 million in the coming decades. In turn, the naysayers will probably do their best to kill public transit as a response to all that future growth.
The transportation infrastructure certainly isn't keeping up. I've always wondered what obligation a municipality has to provide for everyone when there's a large influx of people such as we've had. Supposedly, the additional tax revenues are supposed to solve the problem, but that doesn't seem evident when you're stuck in gridlocked traffic. Ideally, the area would grow until a balance between population and quality of life was achieved, but I think we've already sailed past that point.
we don't have the daily gridlock of DC, ATL, LA, etc.
There are 10,000's of homes near RTP (within 5 miles) now that weren't there before.
but we've got lots of folks who want serious density, which can be done at relatively low municipal cost, but only if it's not in their backyard.
I daresay there are a very reasonable % of residential options ( 1 unit for 3 jobs? maybe) in downtown Raleigh that have been added in the last 15 years, especially in comparison to the jobs located downtown.
The transportation infrastructure certainly isn't keeping up. I've always wondered what obligation a municipality has to provide for everyone when there's a large influx of people such as we've had. Supposedly, the additional tax revenues are supposed to solve the problem, but that doesn't seem evident when you're stuck in gridlocked traffic. Ideally, the area would grow until a balance between population and quality of life was achieved, but I think we've already sailed past that point.
If you look at parts of the country with REAL gridlock traffic, for the most part they are in areas where there is physically no room to make traffic flow improvements or expansion for capacity. Or, you have places like the metro Boston area where you're driving on roads that used to be traveled by horse.
In my opinion (and I'm a newbie), the area seems to be doing a pretty decent job of making infrastructure improvements to keep up with massive growth. The 540 extension(s) are a good example of that, and as people start giving in to the tolls, this will help alleviate traffic on the various other commuting routes.
One thing I love about this area is commuting options. I pull up google maps and my normal commuting route is heavy, I'll take a parallel route. If that route is heavy, I'll take 540 and (gasp) pay the toll. It's extremely nice to have options - many metro areas don't have those options, you have a main artery and when that fills up everything spills to the secondaries and then forget about it.
This area has the unique opportunity of being able plan and learn from mistakes made in other large metro areas in the past. Yes it may cost money, but you can't have your cake and eat it too, right?
Durham needs to get on board now as they expect 100K more peeps in the next 10-15 years.
Can you expand on this post? I am not following. Durham is leading the charge on public transit. Or are you referring to the lack of a loop around the city due to the Eno River environmental concerns?
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