Creasy336

Downtown Burlington

While I-40/85 isn't in an urban environment, it does run through some thick pockets of suburban population through Alamance County and in the near future eastern Guilford County. I-40/85 between Huffman Mill Road and NC 62 (Alamance Rd) in Burlington has daily traffic counts of 110,000+ making it easily one of the top 10 interstate heavily travelled stretches in terms of daily traffic count in North Carolina. Unfortunately Burlington and Alamance county have terrible road infrastructure making I-40/85 the primary route to use for local traffic rather than sit in traffic on Church Street or Mebane Street. I will say the planners of NCDOT were ahead of time on this project completing it in most of it's present for around 12 years ago. As recently as 5 years ago there were stories in the Time News about widening of the road to 10 lanes from Mebane Oaks Road in Mebane to I-840. The future of this stretch of interstate is poor. I 40/85 will only gets busier as Alamance Crossing opens up, and areas south of the interstate continue to develop rapidly through poor planning. There are currently projects being planned that if they come into fruition will add even more traffic...A proposed Tucker Street exit (Exit 144) and the Eastern Alamance Loop (Currently Gibson Road),(Exit 151).

My mother kept saying that someone was burning wood nearby. She was later suprised that the haze was from the large destructive wildfire. The air was very hazy most of the day. Thats one heck of a forest fire.

What if Harris-Teeter brought in an organic/natural foods concept store?

Thats a good map. I-85 is 8 lanes from US 421 south of Greensboro to the Business 85 Split. I might be wrong but I believe the section between Hillsborough and Durham is scheduled to be widened to 6 lanes. I think this is being held off due to Orange County requiring HOV lanes if the section is widened.

I believe the SEHSR would go another route that doesn't involve Selma Junction...I believe that coupled with track inprovementsm will save significant time. Once you leave Raleigh it takes another 3 hours just to leave NC. Between Raleigh and Charlotte I would like to see the line atleast 2 tracks with sections of 3 and 4 tracks in many sections. If the state of NC could find some more sources to fund these improvments that would be great. I think right now seeing an increase in ridership is a plus and shows our states on going commitment to rail travel. I think the next steps should be elevating platforms this would help handicaped, elderly, and young children get on and off trains quickly. Elevated platforms would be safer (as long as people stay away from the edge prior to trains arriving) I would like to see ticket machines at every and an easy pass system maybe monthly, bi monthly,etc... Maybe the state could offer incentives to businesses that locate near stations. Trains need to be promoted more to college students also.

I feel that increased service will exponentially increase rideship.

Did you mean Southpoint?

This is great for Raleigh transit wise. Raleigh's train station hopefully will have commuter rail (Eastrans), TTA, and serve as a major station for high-speed rail. With increased inter-city rail (mid day piedmont, Wilmington) the station will be a major draw to downtown which is currently booming. GOOD JOB RALEIGH!

Yeah a Winston-Salem to Raleigh train would be nice. I believe a shuttle train between Greensboro and Winston-Salem connecting to existing trains would be nice in the short term. They could add an airport stop and Kernersville (Dell) stop along the way. I also believe it could serve almost as a dual purpose train until commuter rail gets off the ground.

Yeah the Greensboro station basically was in bad shape it was located in the middle of a railyard with a small inadequate station. Currently the new station in downtown Greensboro is the best in the state and definitely the best i've seen between Washington and Atlanta. Charlotte's Station will increase ridership. People will look forward to being able to take the train to uptown Charlotte with all of the attractions and immenities. Currently the station on N. Tryon isn't the best place to get off especially without having someone to pick you up or your own transportation. People who ride the train will have better perceptions of Charlotte once Gateway station is completed, I know Greensboro's image has improved.

What could make NC Intercity Rail more effective in NC? What would increse ridership? Whats would make the ride more enjoyable?...I think 4 Round Trip Trains between Raleigh and Charlotte would be very effective especially if all the stations had ticket machines and didn't require reservations prior to boarding the train. I would also like to see an exclusive Raleigh to Winston Salem Train along with an exclusive Greensboro to Charlotte train. The shorter routes would have more intermediate stops. Just a couple of ideas...

The heart of Triad does seem like the perfect opportunity to have a designed city center for "Greenston-Point" . These opportunities do not occur often. I believe they should strive something new as far as research is involved Winston-Salem already has the PTRP and RTP would be about 80 miles away. As long as the HOT project leaves room for some sort of mass transit corridors and has the potential for some highrise development then i'm all for it. I agree that the auditorium does not sound exciting at all. Instead their should be some sort of park with amusmant park rides similar to a small carnival (Ferris Wheel, Carousel, Miniature Train, etc.. ) adjacent to an entertainment venue. London and Chicago have amusement areas in their downtowns with great sucess.

My grandmother loves that store. I'll be happy to inform her on this

I also attend UNC-C all we need to do is drop the UNC... How about University of Charlotte or Charlotte University. They both have good rings to them . Sometimes its all about the name!

Upon my last trip to Eastland I realized that it had the most Urban/Hip Hop stores in a mall I have ever seen. Including NYC... Too bad the mall wasn't very attractive with many of the anchors closing. I wish there was a way to save Eastland in some form. I think most malls cater to similar demographics, Eastland does the same even if it is by default resulting from stores leaving.

How will the NC music factory be incoporated into Uptown... Basically what I'm saying is If I am uptown on Tryon or College... How will the walk be to the NC Music Factory? Will it be inviting for someone to leave the Epicenter and walk to the NC Music Factory while having a "night out on the town"? ( in the future)

It blends in with the neighborhood very well.

It does have its histoy 1960 train wreck but i agree with you. NCDOT will use that bridge for as long as it permits.

Does anyone believe there is a chance that single track over the haw river thats been there forever will be replaced at some point.

what if North Carolina implented an authority similar to New Jersey Transit? Could inter-city rail become frequent enough to be used as a commuter train between Charlotte-Greensboro and Winston-Salem to Raleigh or Winston Salem to Charlotte... the trains would have added local stops for local service that would be bypassed by express trains to larger stops. The trains wouldn't have to always go the full length of the line such as trains from Charlotte to Salisbury or Winston-Salem to Greensboro or Burlington. Any thoughts on this?