On Saturday, November 5, 2011, neighbors, business owners, and city staff gathered at Peach Road Park to discuss the future of Lake Wheeler Road. The 1.2 mile stretch of road, South of I-40 and North of Tryon Road, had a lot of details to cover and attendees had in-depth conversations in a very CityCamp Raleigh-like manner—thoughtful and forward-looking with can-do attitude.
More detailed notes and next steps will be published in the future, but we wanted to give you an idea of what transpired and an opportunity to provide feedback if you couldn’t attend. Below if a brief synopsis, how to provide feedback, and pictures from the charrette.
Synopsis
Overall, there was a lot of positive feedback. City staff included representatives from the Transportation Planning, Public Works, and City Planning / Urban Design Center. A brief presentation walked us through the history of the previous improvement attempts—all of which failed to achieve neighborhood consensus. Today was different. Staff came prepared with traffic counts, current road conditions, and future corridor options. All of the options included a complete streets approach (i.e. multi-modal options for pedestrians, bicycles, vehicles, and transit).
The general consensus was that this part of Lake Wheeler Road should be a three lane road with either a center turn lane or a divided median. Attendees were very concerned with maintaining the neighborhood context. For the preferred cross-section, maps showed a range of 74-80-foot right-of-way that included 6-foot sidewalks, bike lanes, and two lanes of vehicle traffic. It’s possible that we may see a mix of center-lane and divided median along this stretch. The four-lane with a median option was not well-received.
Neighbors and business owners who attended could see how their property would be impacted with the proposed cross sections and ask questions There was a map with a purple layover indicating where the right-of-way would potentially impact property, to give a sense as to how this currently unfunded project would effect each property along the corridor. We also listed concerns for the area such as the desire for landscape improvements, left-turns at Sierra Drive, and a major “pinch point” at Carolina Pines Drive.
Before we left, we had a chance to provide feedback on a more immediate project that would add sidewalks to the West side of Lake Wheeler, connecting the area to the Farmer’s Market and Raleigh Oaks shopping center. The funding includes two turn lane improvements where Carolina Pines and Lineberry Drive ranked high in the charrette voting.
Send in your feedback
If you were unable to attend and want to provide feedback, complete the following information and send it to the Office of Transportation Planning by November 18, 2011.
Your Name: __________________________________________
- What street cross-section for Lake Wheeler Road do you feel best meets the needs of the community and why?
- What is the ideal character suitable for Lake Wheeler Road that best captures the values of the community?
- Please list any other specific suggestions you have for the Lake Wheeler Road Corridor.
Please Return by November 18th to
Attn: Fleming EL-Amin II
Office of Transportation Planning
P.O. Box 590
Raleigh, NC 27602
Email: fleming.el-amin@raleighnc.gov
Or fax to (919) 516-2681
Views from the charrette
Jason, do you think you could find a link to the pdf’s of the maps and cross sections used at the charette. I’m impressed at the direction this charette process is going.
I ride my bike down this road fairly often in the warmer months on group bike rides and it is definitely tight with cars trying to pass you at high speed and perhaps unsafe space. Three lanes would help out a lot. Car drivers safely sharing the road with bikes would be better.