Yesterday this followup comment was posted to SeeClickFix:

It’s no secret to anyone that Lake Boone Trail needs serious reworking. However, during my visit to it this morning it seems that synchronizing the traffic lights at the Beltline exit with the one at Wycliff Rd would go a long way to smooth traffic flow.

It does not appear that these lights are in sync now so traffic goes in fits and starts, backing up traffic to the east on LBT and also up the off-ramp from the Beltline.

What do the folks in the City’s Traffic Engineering department say about this?

Good to see that someone else is noticing the problem, which really lies with the combination of the Lake Boone Trail lights at I-440 and the Wycliff intersections. Funny that more I-440 backups are caused by the Lake Boone Trail queue spilling over than the Wade Avenue backlog, but it’s true. This is a City of Raleigh problem causing problems on The State’s road. Perhaps provincial engineers are to blame, but the bottom line is that the situation has not improved.

The Cary McDonald’s opened in July 2009 with the restaurant’s first electric charging station, and the Dec. 3 event will showcase a newly upgraded CT 2000 Level II version. Other activities planned include free products from Burt’s Bees, holiday crafts, face painting and balloon art as well as a raffle to benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Durham.

Raleigh is one of the first U.S. markets slated to receive the Focus Electric in 2012. Ford recently recognized the city for being among the 25 EV ready markets in the U.S. The Focus Electric initial markets were chosen based on several different criteria including existing hybrid purchase trends, utility company collaboration and local government commitment to electrification.

Chad D’Arcy, Ford Motor Company’s Focus Electric Marketing Manager, will be present to answer consumer and media questions about the vehicle. Additionally Crossroads Ford of Cary will also display hybrid and fuel efficient gasoline engine vehicles currently available in the Raleigh/Cary market.

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GoLive leverages Google Maps to assemble transit trips between two destinations. One can change walking, transfer, and layover priorities among many other options. What’s most valuable is the system’s integration of all of the area’s fragmented services. The service appears to be web-only for now, but does offer links to other area mobile apps.

It appears that TransLōc has done good job with the online application. After using the outstanding Transit Genie app to navigate Chicago, TransLoc’s had to do a lot to impress me. While the service does integrate the systems, there are still some logic holes with the routing. For instance some of the transfer choices in Chapel Hill so not seem efficient.

I planned about a dozen trips at different times of day, and one of the ?un/intended? effects of the app is the realization that using transit takes way, way more time than using a car. For example a trip to the DPAC from the North Hills area requires nearly two hours for transit, while a car trip usually takes right at 30 minutes. Trips to Chapel Hill from most places but the Hillsborough Street spine take around 1.5 hours. While high-occupancy vehicle transit will never match the efficiency of a car when connecting a remote area to others, it seems that the transit system still could be much more effective. My conclusion after using the app is that the area still really needs more comprehensive bus service before people think twice about using it. Personally I would love to see TTA launch express buses to the Dean Smith Center, DPAC, and DPAC from Raleigh for nighttime events.

Nevertheless, public transit system is an evolutionary process, and an integrated routing service is clearly the next step the area’s progression. In fact, this isn’t just a mundane hurdle, as the integration of so many services is commendable and perhaps unmatched in the US?

The service will certainly encounter some bugs, but as soon as this is worked out, it is imperative to develop apps for Android and iOS, as the target audience for transit expansion is consistent with the heaviest app users. If GoLive can offer an app that is as much fun to use and as impressive as TransitGenie, they can actually make the process of riding the bus a huge selling point for transit.

What is newsworthy here is the fact that the plan, which would bring a line through Raleigh requiring elevated segments and closure of some streets in downtown, is a lot further off than we thought. Just a year ago we were debating the merits of NC5, NC1, and the like. Now, however, these concepts, like so many, seem decades away, not years..

Raleigh planners have been busy deciding how to adapt development planning for the ensuing variants of high-occupancy rail transit, however it is clear that these operations cannot survive without massive amounts of federal funding; money that isn’t there and isn’t going to be there for a long, long time. Cyclists like Paul Farrell and John C. Dvorak have actually called for the Great Depression 2 hitting in 2012, rendering the winner of next year’s presidential election irrelevant. While it seems that an Obama re-election gives “high speed” rail a better chance at seeing the light of day any time in the moderate future, the stark reality is that Washington isn’t going to have money for new projects like this for a while. Infrastructure maintenance will trump new projects for a while even after the economy eventually turns around.

What this means to us as a region is that we probably need to do what we can as a region within fiscal means to mimic the actions of rail. Because a light rail system would rely on heavy federal funding, in the moderate future out focus should be on better integration of the Triangle’s bus services. A merger between Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh, Cary, and Triangle transit groups will not happen, for political reasons, however we can still meld these five systems to seemingly create a cohesive network that provides short, medium, and long distance travel in the region. For sure, these groups must come together and provide good shuttle networks to large sporting and music events in the region.

In lieu of “high speed” rail, we can still work on presenting a marketing effort focusing on the advantages of train over plane for short-distance trips. Free internet connectivity on board would be a start. Perhaps a more elite line of regional bus services that more closely resemble charter services than a bus-of-the damned could do well.

Great bus services sure isn’t as sexy as the dream of multilevel trains through downtown Raleigh. However the role of our government here is to provide reasonable means to move people, and we have those means.

New for 2011 are the Munster Mobile and Grandpa’s Dragula from TV’s “The Munsters,” a $2 million 1961 Aston Martin DB4 GT Super Legera, Ferrari, car club block parties, and a History of the Automobile exhibit.

Admission is $10 and tickets are available at the Convention Center.

Tonight the Raleigh City Council hosted a workshop and public hearing regarding proposed routes for light rail trains in downtown Raleigh. In early July the Passenger Rail Task Force presented their recommendation for a rail plan, D6a, that would put light rail trains down Morgan Street and up the Salisbury/Wilmington Street pair so as to best serve state government workers. This plan was re-presented in a pre-hearing “workshop” (I use quotes because it was simply a series of presentations with absolutely no interaction with the general public).

However city planners also presented their recommendation, plain ol’ Plan D6, which brings trains down Morgan Street, and up Harrington Street to the point where it joins the existing rail corridor, then crosses over and follows Capital Blvd.

The problems with Plan D6a include the choice to serve government land parcels in lieu of tax-base bolstering parcels that are ripe for private development. D6a also proposes crossing Dawson and McDowell Streets, a state highway pair, which is apparently blasphemy in the eyes of the State Department of Transportation (why can’t the cars just wait an extra cycle every 20 minutes?). Finally, D6a recommends a bridge flying over Peace Street for the southbound track, adding to costs.

The workshop easily blended into the 7:00 public hearing where a 3/4 full council chamber played ostrich given the opportunity to speak. Only 4 people expressed opinions before the mayor quickly and unclearly closed the public session. The Council moved on to closing comments, and voted to recommend Plan D6 by a vote of 6-2. One dissenting councilor was Bonner Gaylord who prefers route D5, however willingly accepted Plan D6. It appeared that Russ Stephenson was the other dissenting voter, however it was unclear why. Presumably his actions regard his consideration of a D6/D6a plan that would run the Northbound train along D6a and the Southbound train along D6. He postulated that this would put train access to prime private land in the Glenwood South area while serving the government buildings; the best of both worlds.

None of the presenters or councilors seemed concerned by the complete lack of coverage of south downtown, however. The assumption is that riders accessing East and South Raleigh will gladly connect to D6a by riding circulator buses, like the R-line, when coming downtown for events. Unfortunately in real life this won’t happen. People in North Raleigh will not take a park & ride downtown to a circulator bus stop in order to get to Memorial Auditorium. They would walk 3 blocks from a station, but they will not take a 3rd mode of transit.

Also absent from discussion was the long walk between Amtrak and light rail platforms for people carrying heavy luggage. The proposed 2-3 block length is too long. This connection needs to be graceful. Most importantly, missing from discussion were ideas about how to best present the plan to main source of funding, suburban citizens.

While I am happy to essentially see the demise of Plan D6a, I still have big concerns about Plan D6. It is a plan that ignores any entertainment and convention venues. However it is a plan that minimizes exposure to traffic, services museums and government offices reasonably, and one that avoids extremely expensive elevated portions of track.

Don’t be fooled, however. The reality of a light rail system is still many, many years away. I have a strong sense that no progress will occur on this project in the next 12 months, in fact, as there are still uncertainties about the engineering and funding of the plan. With an uncertain political climate and a dismal economy extending beyond the horizon, it will likely be a while, a long while, before significant progress is made.

Handout from the Meeting (.PDF)

The Raleigh City Council has scheduled a workshop and public hearing for Monday, Aug. 1 on the various light rail transit routes proposed for the Downtown area. The workshop starts at 5:30 p.m. and the public hearing at 7 p.m. Both events will be held in the council chamber on the second floor of the Avery C. Upchurch Government Complex, 222 W. Hargett St.
Triangle Transit is planning a light rail system that would serve the region, including Raleigh. Representatives from Triangle Transit, City of Raleigh staff and members of the City’s Passenger Rail Task Force will appear at the workshop to discuss with the City Council the proposed routes for the planned light rail system into Downtown. The public hearing will give Raleigh residents and businesses an opportunity to comment on proposed routes.

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The situation is unlikely to be a replay of the U2 concert at Carter-Finley Stadium due to the smaller nature of this show, however Wade Avenue at Edward Mill Road is absolutely to be avoided. The best way to approach this event is to take Hillsborough Street to Youth Center Drive, adjacent to the N.C. State Fairgrounds. This road leads directly to the Carter-Finley Stadium parking lots which are more adjacent to the RBC Center. Gambling on parking in the arena’s paved lots will likely result in prolonged wait times leaving the event.

Plan D6A takes the line coming from North Raleigh off of the rail corridors and onto downtown Raleigh city streets just north of Logan’s. The line then travels down Salisbury Street by the legislature to the Capitol where it turns and (after making two turns at intersections) basically finds its way up Morgan street to Charlie Goodnights where it joins the existing rail corridor to head west. The East/Northbound line takes a slightly different approach. It enters downtown on Morgan Street, turns left onto Wilmington Street in front of the Capitol, and heads north to Logan’s where it joins into the existing rail corridor.

There are several reasons the group selected Plan D6A. By exiting the rail line at Charlie Goodnights, the system is able to avoid expensive maneuvers to negotiate the “wye” near the existing Amtrak station. While downtown, the plan makes use of light rail’s biggest strength, its ability to become a cable car on a city street. (Evidently the plan now calls for light rail trains that can negotiate sharp turns in downtown intersections. My understanding was that they favored a vehicle that could only negotiate sweeping turns).

Setting aside the fact that all of the considered plans are estimated to cost anywhere from 1.4 to 1.6 BILLION dollars and do not serve RDU or the RBC Center, we can still make a better plan than any of those examined by the task force.

The gogoraleigh Plan

If we are going to spend $1.5B on a transit entity, it needs to serve the existing needs of real people. It should not serve only as a Park & Ride service for downtown’s state government workers, it must also be the backbone for future private developments while including some of today’s most popular destinations and residential centers.

Faulty Pillars

All published plans have been built upon four primary faulty pillars. In order to get the best plan, each of these pillars needs to be reconstructed or the system will have severe flaws.

1. North Raleigh residents are willing to ride a train to work in RTP via downtown Raleigh. North Raleigh residents who work in RTP only want to go downtown for entertainment purposes. True, the system needs to be a link for downtown workers in North Raleigh, but any efforts to bend plans to attract RTP workers are in vain.
2. We need one multimodal transit center located in the Warehouse District. We already have an excellent bus hub in Moore Square Station. Why not just include it into a rail plan, and use the Union Station concept to connect only rail modes (light rail, existing Amtrak, high-speed rail)?
3. We should only use existing rail corridors. We happen to have good rail corridors for servicing west and north downtown areas with minimal impact on neighborhoods, which is a blessing. However the areas served are predominantly white and any plan to spend $1.5B that completely excludes poor and black population centers is going to be met with extreme resistance (and rightfully so).
4. We can throw light rail onto any ol’ downtown street and expect the current level of safety. While the beauty of light rail is its flexibility, one must remember that vehicular traffic, cars and light rail trains, on downtown streets must yield to all pedestrians. Cars must yield to light rail cars. While the mixing of these modes is possible, they present a much more dangerous situation than we currently have on our streets. To add to that matter, the permanent overhead power cable lines are ugly. Do we really want three sides of the Capitol to be lined with power lined streets?

We need a plan that sensibly interfaces our most popular existing destinations, allows for dense future growth, serves all classes of citizens, provides room for future expansion, contains costs, provides the safest possible solution.

Any RTP worker living in North Raleigh that wants to ride transit to work will not be fazed by an additional modal change that potentially adds 10 minutes to their commute. Therefore, there is no reason that the North and West lines need to be contiguous. It makes more sense to bring the West line into downtown along Hargett Street where it can stop at Union Station. From there it can proceed directly down Hargett Street to Moore Square Station. For now the line would terminate there, but it can certainly be extended eastward to ultimately include St. Augustine’s College and Wake Medical Center.

The North line would proceed down the rail corridor from Logan’s to Union Station, but would continue south to service the Raleigh Convention Center/Amphitheater and performing arts complex. This line could be extended to Garner to complete the Wake County Transit corridor Long Term plan.

This plan creates the possibility for an interesting Union Station development, much like the one envisioned by Rutgers graduate student Jonathan Hawkins. Union Station can be a signature project for downtown Raleigh, and Plan D6A makes such a project more difficult as it would not fully integrate the rail lines in the station’s structure.

The reasons this is not a better plan than D6A:

• It forces riders traveling between North and West Raleigh to change trains.
• It does not serve state government properties and Oakwood as closely as D6A

The reasons this is a better plan than any existing one are:

• The trains only cross 8 busy city streets and do not have to turn tight corners in downtown traffic. Plan D6A crosses 34 busy downtown streets (in its segments between Charlie Goodnights and Peace College), and makes 4 turns. This will have an extremely detrimental impact on downtown vehicular traffic.
• It serves East Raleigh
• It connects the rail system gracefully with the existing bus hub.
• It connects to Amtrak one block closer than Plan D6A
• It serves the Convention Center, amphitheater, and Progress Energy Center, some of downtown Raleigh’s biggest destinations for tourists and suburban citizens.
• It is extensible. Eventually system could be stretched into East and South Raleigh easily, offering more flexibility for planning new facilities such as an arena, stadium, or expanded performing arts complex.
• It is (presumably) less expensive

Thinking Big

The debate over downtown routing is an extremely important one. However those supporting transit need to actually start with a bigger plan. No one would never buy bricks unless they understood the concept of a completed house. Likewise, we need to demonstrate a larger plan and show that the current $1.5B plan is actually a piece to a bigger puzzle, rather than presenting it as the be-all/end-all solution. People see a $1.5B plan that doesn’t serve Memorial Auditorium, the Convention Center, the RBC Center, and RDU and they immediately never see themselves using it.

I’ve demonstrated how the two planned lines as well as two North Raleigh arcs, can show how popular existing destinations can be served well and be a viable alternative for car use for much of Raleigh.

If the right long term plan for Raleigh is high-density passenger transit, then let’s get started with an inclusive system that serves people’s needs quickly, efficiently, beautifully, and safely.

The the entire gogoraleigh Plan at Google Maps.

Can you say “lipstick on a pig”? First of all, I don’t understand architects’ fascination with pulling rainwater back into buildings. This is a design that has failed time and time again. Secondly, what in the world are we doing dropping a dime into this facility for anything other than tearing it down? The terminal was originally supposed to be a hangar, and got a last minute upfit for short-term terminal space. Renovating this terminal is another step in the airport authority’s history of blowing money hundreds of millions of dollars at a time. There is a reason that people love airports like TPA, they are designed well and handle future growth well.

[Renderings at TBJ]

I just don’t understand some of the parking zone selections in Downtown Raleigh.

The road will be closed for approximately one month.

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It will be the first time in Raleigh for the 2012 Focus (pictured) & 2012 Mustang Boss. The Focus will deliver up to a projected 40 mpg on the highway while bringing new technologies and features to the segment including available Active Park Assist, MyKey, and MyFord Touch driver connect technologies.

The Boss features a 440-hp 5.0-liter V8 with refinements to the driveline, suspension, steering and brakes to deliver as close to a race-car experience as is possible on a street-legal machine.

The new Chevy Volt, Chevrolet’s foray into the world of hybrid technologies, will also be on display. The car will be available for preorder in North Carolina in the second quarter of this year.

A plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) will be displayed, thanks to the local partnership with Progress Energy. A PHEV has a high-energy battery on-board which can be charged using the plug from a wall outlet. It can be driven solely on electricity for miles without using gasoline. If the battery becomes depleted, it can switch back to operation with the on-board gasoline engine achieving up to 120 mpg.

MyFord Touch driver connect technology will also be on display. Launching on the 2011 Ford Edge, MyFord Touch is the next generation of Ford Sync and iblends strengths of the most popular interfaces in consumer electronics (including MP3 players and mobile phones) with a new generation of the Ford SYNC system.

Google and the GoTriangle family of services are pleased to announce that the Google Transit trip planner (www.google.com/transit) now includes all local transit schedules and routes for the Triangle region. The GoTriangle family of services include Capital Area Transit (CAT), Cary Transit (C-Tran), Chapel Hill Transit (CHT), Durham Area Transit Authority (DATA), North Carolina State University Wolfline, and Triangle Transit.   The addition of GoTriangle trip planning services to Google marks the beginning of the full regional technology program, GoLive, which will also include a regional real-time system and an open-source data warehouse.

In 2003, GoTriangle launched a Transit Trip Planner at gotriangle.org so that transit riders can find a best match for their next trip.  Triangle commuters can enter destination information in “from” and “to” fields from the GoTriangle.org home page. Using all of the local transit schedules, the trip planner calculates the length of time the trip will take and suggests the quickest, most efficient route. Customers can select not only transit but also a combination of biking and walking.

With Google Transit, Triangle visitors and regular transit users can now plan their trips using familiar technology while on the go with Google mobile apps, allowing for searches on smart phones such as the iPhone and Droid.  By utilizing Google search, riders have more options for starting and destination points, making for a smoother trip planning experience and easier integration into a transit-oriented lifestyle.

As part of the GoTriangle’s commitment to openness and providing resources to Triangle commuters, all bus system data will be available as GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification) files. These files will be available late January 2011 on GoTriangle for developers to create useful mobile phone apps.

According to the city’s website, Assistant City Manager Dan Howe said:,

"The City of Raleigh is hoping that See Click Fix will provide a convenient tool for citizens to use to alert us to issues in the community as they arise. Â City staff and the City Council take great pride in the high level of service provided to citizens in Raleigh and it is our hope that See Click Fix can add another means for citizens to partner with our elected officials and professional staff as we all work to keep our city clean, safe and well-maintained."

Problems can be reported by going to SeeClickFix.com or by using the company’s apps for iPhone, Android, or Blackberry.

• SOUTH – Take Highway 64 West out of Cary to Farrington Point Road. Turn right and proceed for a few miles where you will bear left as the road becomes Mt. Carmel Church Road. Pass Governor’s Club’s entrance until you reach the next traffic light, 15-501 sound of town. Turn right to proceed into Chapel Hill or turn left to proceed to the Southern Village Tar Heel Express bus stop.
• NORTH – Take Highway 70 West to Durham and get on I-85 West. After Mile marker 174, take 15-501 South and follow it into Chapel Hill. There is a Tar Heel Express option at University Mall, near Dillards.
• MIDDLE – There are a few options to wind your way into Chapel Hill. If you are in the middle of Raleigh, take I-40 to I-540 South. Proceed until the road ends at Highway 55. Turn Right and then immediately turn left onto OKelly Chapel Road. It will end at 751 where you will turn right. Two lefts later turn onto Stagecoach Road. At its end, turn left onto Farrington Road. Follow it as it becomes Barbee Chapel Road. The next traffic light is Hwy 54, where you’ll turn left. If you want to take the Tar Heel Express bus, take the next left onto Friday Center Drive.

With all of these routes, it takes about 50 minutes to get from Cameron Village to the Tar Heel Expresses mentioned. This is in contrast to the 35 minutes it normally takes on a non-gameday without traffic problems. If you don’t have a place to park reserved for you, your best bet is to go to one of the Tar Heel Express locations and ride the bus to the stadium-side UNC Belltower. (Note that postgame departure points are in front of Fetzer gym, which is 1 block east of the belltower pregame dropoff points).

When traveling over, be sure to use WRAL’s traffic cams linked on their website, and follow my updates on Twitter.

OFFICIAL DOT STATEMENT ABOUT I-40 ROAD WORK

The shuttle departs from a few area restaurants such as:

• Spring Rolls (North Hills) – 55 minutes prior to game time,
• Tir Na Nog (Downtown) – 48 minutes prior to game time,
• La Volta (Downtown - thanks cecil!) – 52 minutes prior to game time,
• more?….

Seats are on a first-come, first-server basis, and no purchase is necessary.

Unfortunately there isn’t a good or official website for this service. If you have seen the service being available from anywhere else, please let everyone know in the comments! Note: The service now has a website outlining pickup locations and times.

Kickoff is at 7:30pm, and all traffic in the western half of Wake County will be extremely heavy. If at all possible, avoid I-40 and the Starplex (Stadium/Arena Complex) area if you are not attending the game!

On a fully charged battery and tank of gas, the Volt has a driving range of hundreds of miles. Because the Volt can use gas to create its own electricity in extended-range mode, long trips are possible. However, the Volt is primarily powered from electricity stored in its 16-kWh lithium-ion battery which is typically offers a range of 25 to 50 miles (depending on terrain, driving technique, temperature and battery age). When the Volt’s battery runs low, a gas engine-generator seamlessly engages to extend the driving range.

Note: Drives are on a first-come, first-serve basis.

(What I’d like to know is why Raleigh only gets this tour for 1.5hrs when other cities on the tour get at least a half day. The following city on the tour is New York, but their event doesn’t begin until the 5th. Perhaps the tour has some private engagements during the week in a city that lies between Raleigh and New York?? While I’m glad we got a tour date, likely buyers of this car in this market, who are not real estate agents, are extremely unlikely to be able to get away from work first-thing Monday morning.)

All of that is nice, but what is really worth checking out is the latest generation of the phenomenal Ford Sync system, called MyFord Touch. The new version continues Sync’s fantastic bluetooth connectivity for phone and audio, and expands the abilities of navigation and climate control. Two new features include turning the car into a WiFi hotspot and iTunes tagging support from the HD radio. There is also support for USB keyboards, RSS feeds, an additional USB socket, an SD Card slot, enhanced podcast support, and more. For more information, see Mashable’s excellent writeup of MyFord Touch, as did Joelfeder.com.

Clearly the next battleground for car makers is on the dashboard, and Ford has the early lead here. Be sure to take this opportunity to see what is going on in this space.

The website for this review shows PDFs of 9 or so different plans for the area. It appears that some central themes include putting more pressure on Crabtree Valley Avenue, enabling Ridge Road traffic to access Glenwood Avenue without entering 440E, and converting all speed ramp accesses to right turns.

To begin, I passionately hate the idea of removing entrance ramps and replacing them with 90-degree turns. Somewhat recent changes at Western Blvd. and I-440 resulted in a right turn to access 440 East. The result has been more unexpected brake tapping as queues build to access the acceleration ramp. Additionally this move wastes energy as drivers have to trim much speed, make the turn, then accelerate aggressively to reach cruising speeds on I-440. Surely the pedestrian was in mind, but this intersection has about a 100,000:1 car/pedestrian ratio. These pedestrians only have to manage crossing 12 feet while monitoring traffic from one direction. If the DOT wants those accessing the ramp to hold a slow speed until after passing the pedestrian crossing, then they should use signage and corrugated pavement to slow drivers.

I really like the idea of winding Ridge Road traffic around to Glenwood Ave and requiring it to use the ramp system there to access 440. This will allow the existing Ridge Road ramp area to play a role in accessing Crabtree Valley Avenue. I also feel that Crabtree Valley Avenue can become an important piece to this puzzle.

The nine plans must be considered for not only their effectiveness, but also their costs. They are as follows:

There is an additional plan called “Ridge Road” (.pdf) that appears to be the economy model. It removes cloverleafs for people exiting Glenwood in either direction, and reopens the one from 440E to Glenwood West. The problem with this plan is that it adds a signal to the west side of the intersection, requiring people going from Glenwood West to 440W to use a left turn signal. It also reintroduces the original problem with Glenwood’s cloverleaf; traffic entering and exiting 440E must cross over each other. This plan does, however, call for this zone to extend from the current Ridge Road entrance to beyond the Glenwood bridge. The plan would be cheap, but would not reduce accidents and really would not improve traffic on 440E as the loop exit only has a 1-car-wide queue.

Elements from the plans that I like:

• Removing all exiting traffic from 440E at the current Ridge Road exit, before entering traffic has access to I-440.
• Routing Ridge Road with the exiting 440E traffic over to Glenwood Ave.
• Using Arrow Drive as a crescent, only accessible from Glenwood and Blue Ridge Roads.
• In order for Crabtree Valley Avenue to truly be accessed efficiently, the flyovers in Plan B1 will be needed. However they may not be needed in the short term, as traffic can use existing Creedmoor Rd to access CVA and its 440 accesses.
• I like the ramp design off of 440E in Plan A3b. It cuts into the existing woods just before the existing Ridge Road intersection and offers a more gentle curve. People will want the ramp’s ascension to help trim their speed gently, and that will cause fewer ripples back onto I-440E than the plans which call for using the existing, sharp exit shape.

Elements that are Not Necessary:

• The plans to reroute Crabtree Valley Avenue up the Edwards Mill hill behind where Brendle’s was seem to accomplish nothing. In fact, they remove any possibility of gracefully linking the avenue with Glenwood.
• The Lead Mine access flyovers to 440E and Glenwood are an expensive solution. What might work better is a modified-SPUI where Lead Mine road flies over Glenwood to become Blue Ridge Road. It should be designed, however, to send 440-bound traffic on southbound Lead Mine over to the Crabtree Valley Ave access, instead of using Glenwood Avenue’s access.
• 440W direct access to North Hills Drive (as seen in the “Ridge Road” plan).
• The plans, such as A3, which show westbound Ridge Road traffic passing under the ramps that access Crabtree Valley Avenue. Westbound Ridge Road would be a lightly traveled road, and a simple stop sign to cross over exiting 440E traffic should suffice and save a lot of money. Also I feel strongly that Varnell Avenue’s access remain open to Ridge Road. I don’t like the idea of limiting a neighborhood’s access to major roads to only one point.
• All plans call for removing the signal for traffic exiting Crabtree onto Blue Ridge Road, and converting the access to a right in/right out. This calls for all traffic intending to go northbound on Lead Mind to instead use the Homewood Banks/Crabtree Valley Avenue access to get over to northbound Blue Ridge/Lead Mine. The increased pressure on this parking lot intersection probably calls for either a signal on private property or a roundabout.

I’m not the only one with an opinion, though. Be sure to send yours via email to valleystudy@gmail.com or via regular mail to:

Fleming El-Amin
City of Raleigh Public Works Dept.
P.O. Box 590
Raleigh, NC 27602

The game will be televised in HD on ESPN, but unfortunately will not be in 3D. The 3D game of the week is Clemson vs. Auburn (Sat., 7pm).

So I guess we can cross off “commute times” as a good reason to adopt a regional transit system. We rank 59th in commute times, yet we have a “sprawl problem” that is killing our way of life. Somehow this way of like seems to be just fine for most of us. Maybe private time in our cars relaxes us.