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Raleigh recently broke ground on the first of four highly anticipated BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) lines. The New Bern BRT will stretch from Downtown Raleigh a few miles East out to New Hope Rd.
From Downtown to Wake Med, the BRT will operate in a dedicated median guideway that functions more like light rail than a bus. Outside of Wake Med, the system will be featured in a mixed traffic setup (that’s another story for another day).
Other improvements will include filling in sidewalk gaps West of Wake Med, adding a shared-use path, and realigning the Poole Rd intersection.
As with any high capacity transit system, you need the ridership to back up the cost. The 15 bus line which currently runs along the BRT corridor, sees some of the highest levels of ridership on the system. In addition, the BRT will service some of the areas of Raleigh with the lowest levels of car-dependency, some of the most diverse neighborhoods, and shopping centers.
To help facilitate ridership, reduce car-dependency, promote affordability, reduce displacement, and combat climate change, the City of Raleigh has proposed a Transit Overlay District (TOD) to surround the corridor. The aforementioned link does a great job explaining with the TOD is and is not.
The consequences of not up-zoning along the BRT corridor are dire. As we all know, the region is growing at a rapid pace. Over 60 people move to the region a day and need somewhere to call home.
We have two options on where to house all those new residents: Infill or Sprawl.
As the region has continued to sprawl further into Johnston County, Harnett County, Franklin County and beyond, many things are happening – traffic, deforestation, loss of farmland, increased cost of services, and displacement.
People want to live in the city and people want to live near transit. Without up-zoning (even if BRT wasn’t built), the displacement pressure on long time residents and businesses would further increase. As with any in-demand area, the people who are able to afford the area will. Look at what’s happening in North Hills right now – every modest mid-century brick house is being bought up by investors, torn down, and being rebuilt as a multi-million dollar single family mansion. This is the future of the New Bern corridor without up-zoning.
Up-zoning will do several things to help alleviative this:
- Allows for many more units which will decrease the pressure for investors to tear down / displace existing single family homes in the area
- Allows for more families to live in a mobility rich neighborhood
- Diversifies housing options allowing for more affordable options and more housing choices to be built
- Slows the rate of destructive sprawl development by allowing more families to live in the City
- Reduces car-dependency by allowing more families to live along the BRT corridor
- Reduces pressure on existing useable properties to redevelop due to infill parcels seeing more density
- Increases opportunities for multimodal infrastructure
- Decreased infrastructure costs with less needed new service construction in the suburbs
- Slows the rate of climate change by reducing Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT)
- More neighbors, more friends!
The future of the residents of today and tomorrow along the BRT network, City of Raleigh, and Triangle region as a whole depend on getting the land use right around the system. There are currently 100s of vacant, abandoned, or otherwise prime parcels that could handle 1000s of residential units, commercial uses, services, parks, schools and more.
There are many ways learn more, get involved, or to help get the word out about the importance of the TOD rezoning:
- Speak in support at a Council meeting
- Spread the word
- Get involved in your community and combat disinformation about what the TOD is and is not
- Get involved with a forward thinking community organization such as WakeUpWakeCounty, RaleighForward, and OaksAndSpokes
For more on the topic of the BRT and TOD see the links below.
https://raleighnc.gov/station-area-plan-new-bern
Related:
https://southernurbanism.org/blog/density-as-prerequisite-to-viable-transit?rq=veasley
Phil Veasley is a Professional Engineer working to design safer multimodal infrastructure in cities throughout the US. My goal is to create cites that are safe and effective for all people to move about outside of cars. To achieve that we have to focus on creating equitable, dense, and vibrant cities full of walkable neighborhoods with a various mix of housing choices, schools, restaurants, and services. We can not have safe multimodal infrastructure without the density to support it and we can not have equitable density without safe multimodal infrastructure. Outside of designing safe streets, my passions are sketching ideas for infill neighborhoods, floor plans, urban photography, and exploring our cities on foot, drone, or bike. Please check out the menus above for all of my ideas and also check out my YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter accounts.
Opinions and insights are my own and are not representative of my employer or any organization.
Phil Veasley 
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