Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012

Blue Ridge Road study seeks momentum

City and state officials weigh ideas to modernize the corridor, which links several Raleigh landmarks.

As the home of a sports arena, art museum, state fairgrounds, hospital and university research campus, Blue Ridge Road should be one of the city’s showplace corridors.

But the street itself suffers from an outdated, car-centric layout that looks like something from the 1970s – an affront to Raleigh’s quest for walkable, transit-friendly districts.

Now, a group of public institutions and companies with headquarters on Blue Ridge Road have come together to revive a years-long effort to modernize the corridor.

The vision: Add sidewalks and other amenities for pedestrians and transit riders, ease traffic congestion and attract a new generation of urban-oriented development to West Raleigh.

In many ways, the boulevard embodies the area’s still-unfolding shift from cow pasture to business and cultural hub. An oft-cited joke is that you can raise a Stanley Cup on one end (inside the RBC Center) and raise cattle and horses on the other (at the N.C. State University College of Veterinary Medicine).

At a kickoff gathering last week, Stuart Levin read from a 1999 story in The News & Observer around the time the RBC Center was built.

Developers were quoted laying out bold expectations, saying the RBC Center would spur a wave of town center-style shops, restaurants and residences.

A grand vision for the area has not taken hold, said Levin, a doctor at Wake Internal Medicine who leads the Blue Ridge stakeholders group.

“We don’t want to have, 10 or 15 years from now, another (planning) document sitting in my attic,” Levin told an audience of 100 planners, architects and government officials.

Last year, the city received a $40,000 grant from the N.C. Sustainable Communities Task Force to pay for part of the corridor study, which involves help from a team of urban planning consultants. The state Department of Transportation has also pledged up to $50,000.

A group of core stakeholders – including Rex and the Centennial Authority, which manages the RBC Center – have been meeting for three years and have together contributed $68,000 toward the effort.

Future as transit corridor

The redesign is intended, in part, to prepare for the arrival of Triangle commuter rail. West Raleigh would be home to two of the 16 stations proposed along a future 35-mile route. Plans call for dense urban villages around most of the stations, based on the idea that people will ride the train if they can live, work and eat within walking distance of a station.

Blue Ridge Road must be prepared for the transition, city officials say.

The state has talked for years about moving some of its unsightly, heavy-duty facilities away from Blue Ridge Road, including a 10-acre maintenance yard used by the state Department of Transportation.

“Twenty years ago, that’s a great place for a maintenance yard,” said Joey Hopkins, a district supervisor for DOT. “Probably not so great today.”

The makeover would be welcomed by the N.C. Museum of Art, which has sought to turn its campus into a recreational venue with gardens and links to local and regional greenways.

The art museum left downtown Raleigh for Blue Ridge Road in 1983.

Rex sits on a 67-acre site and owns an additional 30 acres nearby, land that will eventually accommodate a hospital expansion, Rex leaders have said.

Also on board is the State Fairgrounds. A master plan in 2009 identifies 50 improvement projects, including sidewalks, landscaping and a redesigned Gate 1 with a transit stop and nicer main entrance.

The RBC Center is interested in private development on portions of its expansive parking lots, said Jessie Taliaferro, a former Raleigh City Council member who now serves on the Centennial Authority.

“We do not need to remain in a sea of parking,” Taliaferro said. “...We are always open to the idea of decking our parking and bringing in complimentary uses for the center.”

N.C. State plans to build a new hospital for large animals at its veterinary school near the corner of Hillsborough Street and Blue Ridge Road.

A ceremonial entrance also is planned for the university’s biomedical research campus – if and when the N.C. Highway Patrol moves its motor pool lot.

Taken together, the collection of forces should fuel Blue Ridge Road’s success, supporters of the upcoming study say.

“This clearly is one of the emerging corridors in our city,” said Raleigh Planning Director Mitch Silver.