Planning & Transportation

SEHSR Mtg in Raleigh Monday 7/26/2010

AHands — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 06:46:37 -0500

There will be a public meeting Monday evening in Raleigh on the Raleigh to Richmond section of the high speed rail + Greenway.
Meeting Details: http://ht.ly/2fPrT
DEIS PDFs: http://sehsr.org/deis/sehsr_deis_download_files.html

Comments also accepted online: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SEHSR

The trains will probably be hybrid (NOT all-electric). They will make 4 roundtrips daily Charlotte⇄Raleigh (via Hillsborogh & Durham), plus 4 roundtrips daily Charlotte⇄Washington DC (via Hillsborogh, Durham & Raleigh).

Public Hearing on Hillsborough-Orange County Rail Station Plan

tomcamp — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:54:46 -0500

Hillsborough Town Board to Hold Public Hearing on Rail Station Plan

WHAT: Public Hearing on Proposed Rail Station Plan

WHEN: 7 p.m. July 26

WHERE: Town Barn, 101 E. Orange St. Access parking from East Corbin Street.

Hillsborough Town Board hearing on rail station plan

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:42:31 -0500

WHAT: Public Hearing on Proposed Rail Station Plan

WHEN: 7 p.m. July 26

WHERE: Town Barn, 101 E. Orange St. Access parking from East Corbin Street.

SEHSR Trail

AHands — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:26:55 -0500

The Southeast High-Speed Rail (SEHSR) project seeks to build a 110mph Acela-like passenger train system connecting DC to Charlotte (and beyond), via Richmond, Wake Forest, Raleigh, Durham and Hillsborough, using a straightened version of the current Amtrak route. The environmental impact studies currently being developed for the Petersburg VA - Raleigh section includes a bike-ped inter-urban greenway. Charlotte is independently working with consultants to develop a bike-ped urban corridor parallel to their portion of this rail line. Carrboro's very successful Libba Cotton greenway closely parallels an active freight line that runs north through town past WSM and Horace Williams to join the current Amtrak (future SEHSR) line just southeast of Hillsborough.

Compact, Connected, Anchored and Green

Ruby Sinreich — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 17:30:46 -0500

A few weeks ago I attended a meeting to hear the presentation of a group of consultants that have been working for the Town of Chapel Hill and the Downtown Partnership to create a "Downtown Development Framework and Action Plan." I didn't know much about this plan before showing up at the meeting, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it includes some pretty radical ideas for downtown Chapel Hill and they do not include trying to emulate Southpoint Mall!

The draft plan can be downloaded as a PDF from the town web site. Here's my brief analysis...

Our Transit Future public meeting

Ruby Sinreich — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:08:28 -0500

See rickie White's post for more info: http://www.orangepolitics.org/2010/06/carrboro-downtown-chapel-hill-light-rail-connections-to-the-region

From the http://www.ourtransitfuture.com web site:

Carrboro/Downtown Chapel Hill Light Rail Connections to the Region

Rickie White — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:53:32 -0500

Carrboro (and West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill) are arguably the most mass transit friendly developments in the entire region, if not the entire state. And yet direct bus and rail connections have yet to be established connecting these dense centers of work, entertainment, and population to the rest of the Triangle. Furthermore, Carrboro rail and bus discussions have been markedly/noticeably absent from the most recent regional planning processes.

Unleashing a workable future

Guest Author — Fri, 28 May 2010 08:46:55 -0500

Guest post by Barbara Janeway on the results of the Transition Carrboro Chapel Hill brainstorming May 15 at Century Center:

Want our community to be safe and resilient through the coming effects of unstable economy, climate change, and the end of cheap oil? A great start was made on this issue at The Great Unleashing, held May 15 at Carrboro's Century Center, sponsored by Transition Carrboro Chapel Hill.

Over 150 people attended and created the agenda for the day themselves, identifying issues to work with. From these, 28 discussion groups met throughout the day, and brainstormed! By day's end, a powerful 'unleashing' of ideas had occurred, and 21 Action Groups were formed. Many positive visions of our future were communicated!

These Action Groups have begun to meet regularly. And those who join will begin the work of transition in our region, to a more stable local economy with more vibrant local resources. Anyone is welcome to join an action group. The groups will do work on issues such as: more affordable housing, communal gardening, energy independence, children's sustainable education, skill-sharing, health, and many more.

The Triangle celebrates National Bike To Work Week with events May 14th through May 23rd

GoTriangle — Tue, 11 May 2010 16:52:52 -0500

Bike to Work Week opens with elected officials, closes with people in thestreets

The Triangle celebrates National Bike to Work Week with North Carolina’sfirst ‘open-streets’ event in Durham and regional events

Regional Transit To Carrboro, Please!

Rickie White — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 19:17:18 -0500

Triangle Transit is proposing service changes for the 15-501 corridor between Chapel Hill and Durham. I (and others in the region) believe that these service changes should include regional transit service through downtown Carrboro so that residents can take a direct bus to Durham.

Carrboro has the highest transit ridership per capita in North Carolina (9%) without even having a direct bus service out to places where many residents work and hang out (namely downtown Durham, RTP, etc.). At the same time, Carrboro is building up and not out, which means that our land use supports increased transit services. We have the highest density of all large towns and cities in NC with high transit ridership. Finally, I think that economically, increased transit service to Carrboro would very much benefit both downtown Carrboro and West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill by allowing riders from Durham a much faster way to get to our stores and food offerings.