I'm pretty sure that the next phase is the parking deck wrapped by apartments on the remainder of the former Valpark land. It doesn't need the land Katmandu, etc. are on. The two buildings along Hillsborough are the final phase - and haven't gone through site plan review at all yet.

7/31/2012 10:43:02 AM

I really, really, really hate the new traffic circle.

8/8/2012 5:23:10 PM

The front of the bowling alley really isn't improving as time goes on here. :/

8/9/2012 10:50:34 AM

^^ the comically oversized bumper things aren't doing it for you???

8/9/2012 1:53:06 PM

They didn't even angle them well.

8/9/2012 2:48:41 PM

Roundabout was backing up like crazy today. Zero circulation at times.

8/10/2012 5:54:46 PM

It's going to be an absolute nightmare once classes start.

8/10/2012 9:21:49 PM

it wasn't any better when it was two lanes

when i went through at 12:45pm the circle was backed up because hillsborough westbound from the circle to Dan Allen was at a standstill

not the circle's fault

[Edited on August 10, 2012 at 9:36 PM. Reason : t]

8/10/2012 9:35:03 PM

Hillsborough St is going to be backed up from Morgan St. to Gorman St. at peak times now.

8/10/2012 9:41:25 PM

The impending (or has it already happened?) gate arms blocking Dan Allen from through traffic are just going to make it that much worse.

8/11/2012 9:28:36 PM

??

8/11/2012 11:34:33 PM

Quote :

"^^ the comically oversized bumper things aren't doing it for you???"

Just rolled through there in my car and clipped one of those bumpers Dear god please don't EVER let me hit one on my motorcycle, because it'll probably cause me to wipe out. Those things are like sticking concrete grapefruits in the road!

8/11/2012 11:56:18 PM

Quote :

"??"

Oh, has that not been mentioned yet? The University has decided Dan Allen should not be a thoroughfare from Hillsborough to Western and vice versa. Evidently it's too dangerous for everyone who crosses the road. (Because there have been so many pedestrians hit by the cars that go 5 mph while caught in traffic on that heavily traveled thoroughfare).

To that end they are installing a card-access gate at the railroad underpass. Only university vehicles (and presumably holders of B and A permits) will be able to get through during daytime hours. At something like 6 PM the gate will be raised for the evening. The idea seems to be to reroute through traffic to Gorman on the West and Pullen on the east.

As someone who uses Dan Allen as a thoroughfare occasionally I don't like it at all. But, in the University's eyes, I'm part of the problem.

8/12/2012 12:24:04 AM

Dan Allen wasn't built to be a thoroughfare. Can't blame anyone for using it that way, but the traffic problem isn't going to get better until people stop using Hillsborough as a highway, and using Dan Allen to cut through campus just loads Hillsborough more.

Still, the plan is all fucked up by the stoplights. The original idea for the roundabouts was to get rid of stoplights entirely and have a continuous flow of traffic. With lights in place, the roundabouts will never work as they're intended.

8/12/2012 12:54:50 AM

Exactly, the stoplights are going to clog everything the entire way up and down the street all day long. Part of the problem is that at the same time they're shutting down hillsborough st traffic, they are doing absolutely nothing to make other routes more convenient. That traffic has to go somewhere. More and more student and more and more residents are going to need access to transportation routes.

8/12/2012 1:39:08 AM

Well isn't the goal to get people to stop using Hillsborough as a thoroughfare to downtown? The worse the traffic gets on Hillsborough the closer they get to that goal.

It will be interesting to see what blocking off Dan Allen does. For all intents and purposes it was blocked out during certain times of the day anyway so I guess the real impact comes during those times of the day where the street doesn't typically have much traffic.

^And yeah, this. Dan Allen is too crowded. Shut it down. Traffic moves to other roads. Other roads are too crowded, shut 'em down.

[Edited on August 13, 2012 at 8:12 AM. Reason : -]

8/13/2012 8:11:07 AM

According to the SBP email sent out this morning, the gate project is on hold...

8/15/2012 12:15:30 PM

Traffic is already shitty on Hillsborough St.

8/15/2012 12:17:54 PM

surprise, the pullen traffic circle is a clusterfuck

8/16/2012 1:39:00 PM

Got stuck at the circle today for ~3-4 light cycles.

8/16/2012 1:54:41 PM

thank goodness i'm seldom close to campus during the day

8/16/2012 2:00:00 PM

I, too, came here to post that HIllsborough Street is one giant cluster of fuck today.

8/16/2012 2:04:02 PM

I went through the roundabout at around 11:00am today and no trouble at all. I got stopped at the Horne street stoplight for about a minute. The light turned green. I went through. No issues. What direction were you all going?

If you had trouble at the roundabout today recall that this is the first day of class, in the fall semester. That means everybody shows up for everything - class skipping doesn't begin for a week or so. If the roundabout chokes today, possibly the worst traffic day of the year, then no big deal. If it continues to choke into next week and beyond, then we have a problem.

8/16/2012 2:57:33 PM

it's a lot better than it was before.

8/16/2012 4:41:04 PM

Make sure u thank the city of Raleigh and not NCDOT. City of Raleigh did this design I believe.

8/16/2012 7:11:12 PM

Anyone go to Packapalooza?

I was supposed to go work it, but I'm in Virginia this week.

8/19/2012 10:07:10 AM

I walked down there for a couple of times. The street was pretty much packed all day, the ending concert was the most people I've ever seen around the Belltower. Looked pretty awesome. Saw Gott and the team at Hot Box, Glennon/TOB/baseball team signing autographs for a while too.

8/19/2012 12:01:11 PM

Yeah I went. Got to see the infamous balconies.

8/19/2012 8:53:45 PM

I was working the beer tasting at Shakedown Street. There seemed to be a really good crowd out there.

On a side note, apparently Shakedown Street is about to get the boot (not sure if it has already been mentioned).

8/20/2012 3:34:48 PM

^ Are they not paying their rent?

8/20/2012 3:36:04 PM

^^Any idea if this is a move to replace them with a lined up tenant?

8/20/2012 7:20:41 PM

I can't think of anything that would be good for that location.

8/20/2012 8:28:29 PM

I overheard the owner talking about it. He made it sound as if the landlord just wants him out for no particular reason. Who knows what the story really is. The owner of shakedown st is a really cool guy though. I definitely recommend having a beer there while it's still around.

8/21/2012 4:13:51 AM

Honestly that wouldn't surprise me. The Starbucks that used to be in there had lots of problems with the landlord.

8/21/2012 1:49:45 PM

According to wake.gov the current landlord "Fei Wang" has only owned it since 2005 and paid $235k for it.

8/21/2012 2:02:39 PM

hmm, I wonder if that was the same time as the Starbucks closing. I remember it was something like the landlord suddenly decided to jack up rent. Maybe Fei Wang took over and got greedy with rent.

8/21/2012 2:20:11 PM

Rent got jacked up before Fei Wang apparently:
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/112501/

8/21/2012 2:27:19 PM

So I got an email today with photos of the demolition of the former Hillsborough Building Annex (the house between the Hillsborough Building and the wells fargo). What is the new plan for that location?

[Edited on October 18, 2012 at 1:54 PM. Reason : F]

10/18/2012 1:53:38 PM

dude, no way they can tear that shit down. that house has awnings with the diamond logo on them

10/18/2012 3:48:12 PM

A property management company, Walk To NC State, was using that house just a few months ago. Really cool landlords.

Shakedown St. is empty and that new Japanese place opened where the Charley's used to be. It looks like they're trying to make it a sit down place, which is completely stupid. They'd make so much more money if it was a Hibachi Express or something.

10/18/2012 6:15:15 PM

RIP Scooterz Inc

10/18/2012 8:11:19 PM

^Um, I'm pretty sure they just moved to Pylon, that industrial road that connects Blue Ridge and Beryl, right? There's a Scooter place that just opened there, thought it was them changing locations.

10/19/2012 12:46:47 AM

Quote :

"What is the new plan for that location?"

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/07/19/2206624/charlotte-developer-has-ambitious.html

10/19/2012 8:48:18 AM

^4 Website for the Japanese place claims to be casual on-the-go food. Absolutely terrible website: http://www.oishiraleigh.com/index.html

10/19/2012 9:14:19 AM

http://www.raleighpublicrecord.org/news/transit/2012/10/25/watch-for-me-campaign-ruffles-some-feathers/

Quote :

"Drivers who don’t yield to pedestrians might find themselves earning a ticket during an police operation that uses a plainclothes police officer to catch violators. Watch For Me NC, the Triangle-wide education campaign that began this past August, entered its enforcement phase in October and will continue throughout the month."

Personally I think this campaign is a great idea. Especially if dumb bitches like the one they interviewed in the article are getting tickets.

Quote :

"Jessica Tisdale, who received a ticket for failing to yield to a pedestrian at the Hillsborough Street crosswalk, intends to contest the charges. “It’s around a $230 ticket, which slightly ridiculous,” she said. “I plan to fight it, saying that he wasn’t in the crosswalk. Because, in my mind, when I was going through there, I was lawfully abiding, I wasn’t going to hurt anyone or hit anyone.” Tisdale said she had not heard of the Watch For Me NC campaign before her ticket, but looked it up afterward. As a regular patron of the Hillsborough Street crosswalk, she thinks the campaign in general is a good idea. “I’m a pedestrian in the neighborhood; I ride my bike, I take the bus,” she said. “And I think that’s a great program. But to write me a ticket is ridiculous.” Tisdale admits she was on her cell phone while driving, but that remains legal in North Carolina."

So you were on your cell phone gabbing away and you got busted by the cops for not yielding. The campaign is a good idea until they write you a $230 ticket for not following the law. Just be thankful you didn't hit the officer and find yourself on trial for manslaughter charges.

10/25/2012 10:26:04 AM

This is great, but needs to be paired with ticketing people for crossing outside of crosswalks

10/25/2012 10:35:40 AM

They should club pedestrians who cross while traffic has the green light. Damn that screws up traffic when some idiot steps out in traffic when he should be waiting for the crosswalk signal.

10/25/2012 11:14:32 AM

aren't all of the hillsborough crosswalks synched with the lights? So, she was supposed to stop to let him cross while she had a green light?

10/25/2012 12:28:45 PM

Quote :

"This is great, but needs to be paired with ticketing people for crossing outside of crosswalks"

Quote :

"aren't all of the hillsborough crosswalks synched with the lights? So, she was supposed to stop to let him cross while she had a green light?"

Both of these. The pedestrian bears some responsibility to make sure it's reasonably clear (or better yet WAIT for a crossing signal). They can't just jump into the road and expect traffic to part like the Red Sea.

[Edited on October 25, 2012 at 1:15 PM. Reason : -]

10/25/2012 1:12:02 PM

The article seems to indicate she was ticketed at the crosswalk in front of the YMCA, which as I recall does not have a signal. I imagine they are focusing on unsignalized crosswalks here.

10/25/2012 1:49:38 PM