The ugly, functionless, rundown trench through Raleigh’s north area of downtown, known as Capital Boulevard, is the focus of a fantastic article by Bob Geary in the Independent. His interview with former Urban Design Center director Dan Douglas reveals some of Douglas’ stirring concepts he envisions for Raleigh after a lengthy tour through Europe. On his tour he saw concrete examples of formerly burned out industrial corridors transformed into livable city streets, full of hard-working families and fun things to do.

Douglas’ plan involves creating a consortium of government agencies and corporate landowners to create a cooperative plan that would bolster the participants interests, and create an efficient living zone. The plan calls for changing Capital Boulevard out to Atlantic Avenue into a grand city avenue, lined with low-rise development, possibly centered around a public transit rail line. The plan also calls for connecting the Mordecai area over to Glenwood in two places, and adding nine different public park spaces.

It is a plan that actually makes a lot of sense and would replace some of Raleigh’s most pitiful areas with an actual desirable destination. Such a transformation is likely to be a win/win for investors, including taxpayers, as the tax base in these areas would dramatically improve. Getting everyone on the same page, as we’ve seen countless times, remains the beast.