The long-planned expansion of one of Raleigh’s most heavily trafficked thoroughfares just hit a massive roadblock with the projected spend soaring from $56.1M to $93.5M, driven by rising construction costs and a thriving real estate market. Originally part of the city’s 2017 $206.7 million transportation bond, that hefty price tag pushes the project way over the originally allocated $60M budget. It is time to put this project—and maybe a few other CIP programs–on hold for a number of reasons.
Highlights from the March 4, 2025 Council meetings
Highlights from the January 2, 2024 City Council afternoon and evening meetings
As you weigh the merits of the options of this road project, please note the same parameters that increased land value are the same that have increased the tax revenues to the City. Perhaps it is time to invest some of that revenue back into the infrastructure needs of the community. Let’s continue this discussion in committee. After 12 years, the discussion is long overdue.
I’m here asking that the council has staff go back to the original study goals, look at the budget and rework the project in a manner that improves the roadway in meaningful ways. The voters approved the funding for THAT purpose, CAMPO gave us money for that purpose, and we must honor that trust. I know that greater transparency is a goal of this council – Let’s get serious folks, there are residents and business owners in the ROW acquisition zones, who are living in limbo now, this indecision and constant delays are wreaking havoc with people’s lives.
To date, there hasn’t been any communication on project status unless specifically requested by residents. So again I ask, please direct this to the appropriate committee so there is a path forward. We may be achieving the objective of slowing motorists but I don’t think we are achieving that goal in the safest, most effective manner.
Public comments focused on gentrification, homelessness, crime, Glenwood South, transit, traffic calming, historic preservation, and several criticisms of Mayor Baldwin and her actions or lack thereof.
Mayor Baldwin absent and excused. Mayor Pro Tem Branch presided. Raleigh City Attorney announced that she is returning to private practice on May 1. Vision Zero Program Vision Zero, a transportation safety strategy, was first implemented in the 1990s in Sweden. The...
The first camp favors letting the market work without regulation, arguing that it will serve rich and poor alike – but knowing that it won’t – while the second camp favors using the powers of city zoning to assure that growth occurs and serves the interests of all.
Your relentless drive to spread density everywhere is going to be the death knell for the remaining urban forests in our older subdivisions. You are riding the crest of the tree removal wave, as well as the steady progression towards increased traffic gridlock.
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