[Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion]

Wonder if the Chiquita/Brazil fiasco will have an effect (that is, if the Brazilian company gets control of Chiquita and keeps the N.A. HQ in CLT)?  On the other hand, I just saw a blurb on BBC World News about how the Brazilian economy is now officially in recession.

Did you catch the BBC One story on LHR and the debate about hub vs. o/d airports?

[Hillsborough Street - NCSU Area developments]

I'm a huge fan of more public transit - especially rail, but a streetcar line on Hillsborough is a terrible idea.  Who would it serve?  Students going from one end Hillsborough to the other?  Cary residents driving to a park and ride at the fairgrounds and then riding streetcar to downtown?  We really need to establish the 'need' for these transit or else it will get no support and negatively impact the perception of the fight for transit.  I think a light rail line along the existing railroad line would handle any of these trips along this corridor anyway.  And currently, the buses have been sufficient for the most part.

 

I think Hillsborough Street has been re-imagined almost perfectly thus far - with the only complaint that the bike lanes are soo narrow and right up against parked cars.

 

Oh and PR has tons of outdoor seating, so I have no complaints about leaving that road in place either (it also helps to divert some traffic from the large roundabout).

 

 

 

I think that walking from Meredith or NCSU to Glenwood Avenue and Fayetteville Street is a bit of stretch (in the rain, at night, after work?) which is why there was a streetcar line along Hillsborough Street at one time.  What Raleigh seems to forget (when it comes to rail transit)) is that development FOLLOWS transit -- look at Charlotte.  If you buy the anti-transit/anti-urban argument that you don't have enough density to support rail, you'll be waiting for a long time.  The existing rail line running from Raleigh to Cary is perfect for long-distance and inter-city (commuter) rail but light rail?  No.  

 

I think Hillsborough Street is over-engineered now -- too many warning signs, yellow paint and signals.  And, if they build another "roundabout" you might just as well call it a traffic engineers' wet dream instead of a vibrant urban corridor.  Raleigh seems to be run by traffic engineers without any imagination -- it needs more creativity and spontaneity.  Instead of becoming more interesting, Raleigh feels more like a bigger Cary than a 21st city..

 

It's not like Raleigh doesn't have the resources, it just lacks an exciting vision and the will to get anything done.  TTA?  Really?  I've been waiting for 25 years for rail transit in the Triangle but they're still talking about station locations and RTP is still a giant suburban office park with no center.  Look at what Charlotte, Austin and and even Nashville have done in the last 25 years and Raleigh just isn't in the same league and, it should have been. Glenwood Avenue, a few pockets downtown and a corner at Cameron Village just can't compare to the urban energy of so many other cities that have far less intellectual and financial capital than Raleigh

 

Maybe Raleigh will aspire to be more than a suburb in the next 25 years.

 

 

[Hillsborough Street - NCSU Area developments]

I'd like to revisit the 1997 plan that included putting streetcars back onto Hillsborough and skip all the roundabouts except for the two (traffic circles) originally proposed at Pullen and Hillsborough (NCSU gateway) and at Faircloth/Gorman and Hillsborough (Meredith gateway). The original plans' rerouting of Oberlin (behind Players Retreat) seems to have worked well but wish they had closed off the leg from Groveland to Hillsborough as originally proposed for outdoor cafe seating in front of the PR and what was Darryl's. The streetcar part of the plan was for the rail to go under "Pullen Circle". The line would have started at Union Square and gone to the Fairgrounds and NCMA. The bulk of vehicular through traffic should be using Wade and Western leaving mostly local vehicular traffic to the Hillsborough corridor. Heavy ridership of an electric streetcar line is almost guaranteed at this point, and would help to focus highest density development at specific nodal points.

[210 Trade | EpiCentre]

^saw that as well and hope we'll see renderings soon.

 

I looked up a number of AC hotels (I already know Residence Inn) and I don't personally have great expectations.   This is not to say that I'm not estactic to finally get a building there, and it will certainly be better that the ghost floors that brood over the epicentre but I'm preparing myself for the building to look somewhat similar to the ALoft Epicentre.

AC Hotels in Italy are kind of dumps.  Can't say much about the others in Europe.  Only know the properties in Italy.

[210 Trade | EpiCentre]

The CO reported today that construction would start in January 2015.  Any renderings yet?

[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

I'm not surprised; Norfolk Southern is notoriously difficult to deal with. They wouldn't even allow my hometown encroachment into their right-of-way for a sidewalk project next to a line that hasn't seen a train for over a DECADE.

Raleigh and TTA treated N/S really badly at a time when N/S was more willing to work with local governments.  We had no problems working with them on the Eastrans commuter rail proposal in eastern NC.  They own and maintain their facilities and are under no obligation to work with anyone.  When communities and transit systems act the railroad works for them, the railroad pushes back -- as it did in the Triangle in the 1990's and early 2000's.  The other reality is that rail transport of freight is a rapidly growing, cost effective, and profitable alternative to truck and air transport.  The railroads are pulling back from the trend of abandoning corridors and is reinvesting in once idle short lines.

[Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) Expansion]

I was at the City Council meeting and can add some more color to what is being reported in the local press:

 

Growth[/]

-In 2014 New Airlines serving CLT: Frontier, Air Miami, and Aero Mexico

AeroMexico announced service to CLT?

[Charlotte area population statistics]

At the rate we are growing it should happen by 2022.

 

Makes me wonder if, by then, that the national media drop the "NC" after Charlotte, ?

[Charlotte area population statistics]

Does anyone think the City of Charlotte will have 1 million inhabitants in, say, the next 15 years?

[The Good News Report]

Gov. McPope will be here tomorrow for an economic development announcement.....

McPope would attend the opening of an envelope. He showed up for one of these "economic development announcements" in our region and it was 39 new jobs making adult baby wipes.

[SouthPark neighborhood Projects]

i hope that both of the new Harris buildings don't have the same tops. Twin domed tops next to each other will definitely conjure up a new image for Southpark.