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I found this interesting website that expresses the metro and county area growth for each year since 1970. First I looked at the Raleigh/Cary metro: Raleigh-Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area (CBSA) Population and Components of Change
I think it's stunning to see how much growth has occured.
Since 1970, Raleigh/Cary's population has more than tripled from 317,563 to 1,047,629 in 2007. Even in recession years, the population growth has been healthy.
In the specific case of Wake County, it's growth has been even more rapid than the metro as a whole. In 1970, Wake Co. had 229,006. By 2007, the population had almost quadrupled to 832,970.
For the Durham MSA the population has almost doubled from 245,716 in 1970 to 479,624 in 2007. With almost the same growth rate, Durham County grew from 132,681 to 256,500. However, it's interesting to see that there have actually been some years where net domestic migration in Durham County was actually negative. The same is true for 2 years of domestic migration within the entire Durham metro area. Durham County, NC Population and Components of Change
Interesting stuff. I have an aunt who attended NCCU back in the late 60s. When I coincidentally chose the same college in the mid 90's I recall my Grandmother telling me stories about the drive to Durham from Down East. She and my Grandfather would take two lane country roads spotted with houses every now and then. The only highway that was numbered (or at least the only numbered road she could remember) was 98. I couldn't picture it at the time, but looking at those population trends I can imagine it now. She passed away not long after I began college and never got a chance to see how much the area has changed. I'm shocked when I travel 98 or visit Durham, so I know she'd be blown away if she were still here.
This was from a giant atlas I found at the Durham main library recently: a 1969 "Research Triangle Region Development Guide" by the Research Triangle Regional Planning Commission which forecast the future needs of a Triangle with 1.14 million residents, almost three times the 1970 tri-county population of 418,841.
The three-county Triangle was just shy of one million residents in 2000, so it would've passed 1.14 million pretty shortly thereafter.
This was from a giant atlas I found at the Durham main library recently: a 1969 "Research Triangle Region Development Guide" by the Research Triangle Regional Planning Commission which forecast the future needs of a Triangle with 1.14 million residents, almost three times the 1970 tri-county population of 418,841.
The three-county Triangle was just shy of one million residents in 2000, so it would've passed 1.14 million pretty shortly thereafter.
Thanks for posting that. Wow, they really missed the boat on that, assuming no one would move to Apex, Holly Springs or Fuquay. Even more hilarious coming just a few years after someone predicted the location where Wake Tech was built would be the population center of Wake County.
In the latest Census estimate for 2021, Wake County alone has passed 1.14M.
That map is really interesting to see, and it's not without reason that development was expected along existing freeway corridors during the golden age of the car. It's also interesting to see that growth was expected to be more symmetrical/balanced between Raleigh and Durham, and that was not an unreasonable presumption at that time. All in all, Wake's growth potential was really underestimated.
I wonder what this planning window of time represented. Was it 30 years? 40 years? 50 years? I tried to find that on the map to no avail.
In the latest Census estimate for 2021, Wake County alone has passed 1.14M.
That map is really interesting to see, and it's not without reason that development was expected along existing freeway corridors during the golden age of the car. It's also interesting to see that growth was expected to be more symmetrical/balanced between Raleigh and Durham, and that was not an unreasonable presumption at that time. All in all, Wake's growth potential was really underestimated.
I wonder what this planning window of time represented. Was it 30 years? 40 years? 50 years? I tried to find that on the map to no avail.
I don't think growth followed freeway corridors, more than freeway corridors have followed growth around the major job center in the area: RTP. You initially saw that growth moving north through Raleigh. Once built out, it moved west, mostly through Cary and into Morrisville. I-540 was late to the game, as are most DOT roads, and built after the homes had been built. But NC 540, being a toll road, has accelerated the development in west Cary, Morrisville, and down into the western parts of Apex and even parts of Fuquay.
I don't think growth followed freeway corridors, more than freeway corridors have followed growth around the major job center in the area: RTP. You initially saw that growth moving north through Raleigh. Once built out, it moved west, mostly through Cary and into Morrisville. I-540 was late to the game, as are most DOT roads, and built after the homes had been built. But NC 540, being a toll road, has accelerated the development in west Cary, Morrisville, and down into the western parts of Apex and even parts of Fuquay.
Clearly it didn't because we know our reality. However, it sure looked like their projections thought that it would follow existing freeways at that time, and planned freeways to come (and ones that didn't come). They were much better at predicting development patterns in Durham and Orange, but completely missed projecting the explosive growth in outlying Wake, and especially Cary.
This was from a giant atlas I found at the Durham main library recently: a 1969 "Research Triangle Region Development Guide" by the Research Triangle Regional Planning Commission which forecast the future needs of a Triangle with 1.14 million residents, almost three times the 1970 tri-county population of 418,841.
The three-county Triangle was just shy of one million residents in 2000, so it would've passed 1.14 million pretty shortly thereafter.
Great map!
Interesting that at this point I40 was going to go straight through Durham, rather than between it and Chapel Hill, and was not yet mapped south of Raleigh
Construction on Jordan Lake started 4 years after this and Falls Lake 9 years later.
The original 1950s plan for the Interstate system had Greensboro as the eastern terminus of I-40. In 1968, NC asked for I-40 to be extended eastward to Durham and Raleigh, and then to I-95.
The Durham Freeway as originally conceived in the early 1960s was not part of the Interstate system. It was just a way to expedite traffic within Durham and a way to reach RTP. At that time, the majority of RTP workers lived in Durham.
By 1971 there was an isolated segment of I-40 between RTP (at the south end of the Durham Freeway) and the Wade Av extension in Raleigh. I've never seen evidence that the Durham Freeway -- what we now call NC 147 -- was ever signed as I-40. There may have been a widespread belief that the Durham Freeway would become part of the extended I-40, but officially that never happened. Remember, the north end of the Durham Freeway did not tie into I-85 until the 1990s.
The missing gap of I-40 between I-85 and RTP was finally completed via Chapel Hill in 1987. It took a few years more for I-40 to be built between Raleigh and I-95 at Benson. By that time there was a general agreement that I-40 would keep going eastward beyond I-95. There had been a big political debate about New Bern vs Wilmington as the new eastern terminus of I-40. Wilmington won. Only now are we beginning to see I-42 as the ultimate road to New Bern.
Last edited by wizard-xyzzy; 04-19-2022 at 10:45 AM..
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