147: FROM FREEWAY TO BOULEVARD - PT 4: NEW DESIGN

Original Post: http://www.buildingbullcity.com/2022/02/147-from-freeway-to-boulevard-pt-4-new.html

Thanks again for sharing! I really think with East End connector being built and Durham Freeway nearing the end of its useful life there’s a huge opportunity here.

This is really impressive. Thank you to both of you for putting it out there. What sort of political activity do you think would be necessary for this to start to get traction? Is there an existing organization that could/is advocating for it?

I was watching last Monday's city council meeting, the city planning commission rejected a new apartment complex rezoning off of Alston Ave for a number of reasons. What stuck out to me was Commissioner Amandolia said something along the lines of "I'm trying to guide my decision based on the new road map for the city to become less car dependent and this project doesn't fit that new guidance." That's far from an exact quote, but the idea of what he was saying I believe matches.

I don't know what the new road map or guidance he's talking about is, but if city Council is really being guided to become less car dependent, then the 147 transformation seems like a priority and not just a nice to have.

Would love to hear from anyone that would know more about this topic.

It would start with the City of Durham. Admittedly I don’t have a reading on how things in Durham work when compared to Raleigh and Eastern Wake politically wise but getting this on the cities radar would be a start.

At the end of the day though, it’s NCDOT’s road so it’s their say.

Without seeing the plans - I’d guess the parking ratio was very high compared to what they want new complexes to be or it had a surface lot close to downtown when that should be a hidden deck.