Quote:
Originally Posted by Misfitfirefighter
This is random, but am I the only one that thinks it's ridiculous that they're planning a light rail system with no stops at RDU in the initial phase? I'll even go a step further and suggest a "stadium complex" stop as well. I think they're wasting their money by thinking that commuters and visitors to the area will want to transfer in RTP and take a bus to the airport. I wouldn't use it simply for that reason. TRAX in Salt Lake City has it figured out. 3 lines, one with a stop at the airport as the start/terminus of the line with direct access to downtown & transfers. It's awesome. Think of the mixed use development potential around the Edwards Mill & Wade Ave area with a light rail stop. There's enough land there, that for the right price could be turned into a legit planned urban grid system neighborhood. I also consider all the people with ties to Raleigh and the Triangle that might want to fly in to RDU, grab a train to a game or a concert and stay in the area. People would do it! All these die hard NCSU Alumni living elsewhere would make somebody a lot of money. Oh well, that's just my opinion. Rant over.  |
IMO you can say there IS going to be a stop at the stadium complex - it will be the fairgrounds station. Sure it's about a half mile walk to the football stadium and 3/4 mile to the coliseum, but particularly for football games, there are plenty of people who walk that far or more from wherever they parked to get to the game. If you put it right next to the stadium frankly you'll wind up with too many people trying to use it, since everybody leaves sporting events all at once. The infrastructure wouldn't be able to handle it, and everybody would wind up waiting around for 45 minutes for a train to finally come and pick them up. Making it a 10~15 minute walk away makes it a convenient choice for people who are willing to walk a bit. All they have to do is build adequate, well-lit pedestrian infrastructure; a tunnel under Trinity Road at the corner of Youth Center Drive is actually already planned so that's the biggest barrier out of the way already.
I too would like a station at RDU, but it's more complicated than the "no brainer" that people make it out to be.
It would probably get reasonable ridership. Figure you can realistically get 5% of airline passengers to take the train, which would be about 1500 per day, plus another 1000 or so per day for employees. However, in terms of ridership
per mile it would be pitifully low since you have to go by three miles of basically nothing to get there from the rail corridor. In terms of ridership
per dollar it would be even worse since getting to RDU would involve crossing lots of wetlands, expensive flyovers of I-40 and all the airport access freeways, and a complicated route probably involving tunneling to weave through the buildings, facilities, roads, and even runways themselves at the airport.
If this were to happen, they'll need to plan for it whenever they get around to redeveloping the hourly parking deck in front of Terminal 2. Leave space for a below-grade rail station on the bottom floor, and connect it to T2 with a new tunnel under the access road, and to T1 by the atrium-like corridor through the daily parking deck. Maybe even throw in a medium-sized on-premesis airport hotel within the terminal complex.
One element that I do think is missing from the transit plan is good access to and between various Midtown destinations. I could see a bus rapid transit line along the northern arc of the beltline with stops at New Bern/WakeMed, Capital Boulevard, Atlantic/Highwoods, Wake Forest Road, North Hills East, North Hills West, and Crabtree Valley Mall. From there I could see an extension that somehow hits the Lake Boone Trail/Rex Hospital/Duraleigh&Edwards Mill area.
The dedicated lanes already exist: buses could run with traffic when it's not congested, but use BOSS (bus on shoulder system) to travel on the shoulder when there is congestion. Stations could be built in the surplus land next to interchange loops and ramps.