Posts Tagged ‘tryon_road’

Update 1: No Funding for Tryon Road Bridge

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

UPDATE March 9, 2010

Please see the following update provided by Ed Johnson, CAMPO, in response to No Funding for Tryon Road Bridge, which has some important information not captured in the original post. We want to make sure that you have all the facts and this is vital to making sure we have posted accurate information. Thank you Ed for making sure we have the most complete information that we can about this project.

Your very good report has one factual error. It was NCDOT’s decision not to include subregional tier projects in this first round of prioritizations, not CAMPO’s. This was purportedly due to concerns about data adequacy, but lack of time and resouces probably figured in as well.
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No Funding for Tryon Road Bridge

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

UPDATE: See important follow-up information from CAMPO posted on March 9, 2010.

The Tryon Road project, also known as U-4432, is not funded for construction in the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s (NCDOT) current 5-year work program [138 page PDF]. This could spell trouble for the commercial and mixed use part of the Renaissance Park development as well as the widening (Part C) and realignment of Tryon Road from Lake Wheeler Road to South Wilmington Street. Finishing the Tryon Road expansion project from Cary, NC to Garner, NC would complete a major artery between Raleigh, Cary, and Garner and reduce the amount of congestion along this corridor.

Tryon Road project, courtesy, Anthony McLeod

Tryon Road project, courtesy, Anthony McLeod

It’s not like we’ll need the estimated $300,000,000.00 to replace the Oregon Inlet bridge (I’m a Dare County boy so I can say that), but we need more than zero. And I think we need it faster than five years from now. Maybe we could borrow a few pylons?
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Representative Ross, Guidance on Tryon Road

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Last week, Renaissance Park resident, Anthony McLeod and I headed down to the North Carolina Legislature to meet with our House Representative, Deborah Ross. I’ve known Representative Ross for many years and had her guidance when I was working to get Lineberry Drive paved. She is a positive voice for her constituents and helpful legislature when you need advice.

Anthony and I meet with Representative Ross on the morning of February 15, 2010 regarding the Tryon Road realignment project (sign the petition at http://renparkonline.com/tryonroad/). (more…)

The Garner Death Curve

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

If you travel on Tryon Road between Raleigh’s Lake Wheeler Road and US 70-401 then you know what the Garner death curve is. At least, that’s what I call it. As you approach the two-lane, Norfolk-Southern Railroad bridge from either direction, your hands tend to migrate towards the 10 and 2 position on your steering wheel. You might even tense up a bit. This is the Garner death curve.

Tryon Road / Norfolk Southern Rail, Raleigh, NC (Google Maps)

Tryon Road / Norfolk Southern Rail, Raleigh, NC (Google Maps)

Why is this section of Tryon Road being neglected? The parts from Cary, NC to Lake Wheeler Road are mostly complete and practically done. Four glorious lanes of asphalt with a median. We might even get to participate in choosing some of the landscape for that median. Update 2/10/10 see comments for corrections from Eric Lamb, City of Raleigh.

Last December, a group of citizens started brainstorming on how South West Raleigh could get some attention to this forgotten part of Tryon Road. A group of neighbors from Renaissance Park are leading the effort to widen Tryon Road and complete the realignment project. You should sign their online petition if you haven’t already: (more…)

Neighbors Collaborate to Tackle City Issues

Monday, December 21st, 2009

On Monday, December 14, 2009, I lead a design thinking session at the South West Citizens Advisory Council (SWCAC) meeting at Carolina Pines park in Raleigh, NC. Our goal for this meeting? To solve neighborhood problems the open source way. I told the SWCAC Chair, Mary Belle Pate, that I wanted to foster participation, collaboration, and shared benefit to tackle these topics. What I didn’t anticipate was the shared knowledge and community that came out of the hour-long session.
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SWCAC December 2009 Agenda

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

The December 2009 agenda for the South West Citizen Advisory Council (SWCAC) is below. The meeting will be held on Monday, December 14, 2009 at 7:00 PM at Carolina Pines.

Special note – please bring new socks and/or underwear for either men or women to this meeting. they will be our holiday gifts to our neighbors, the men of the healing place for men and the women of the healing place for women.

  1. Police report and safety suggestions – Officer Upchurch
  2. Parks & Recreation activities – Nickey Brewster
  3. The Healing Place – Executive Director Dennis Parnell will explain the purpose of our valuable neighbor, The Healing Place for Men, and The Healing Place for Women, located in northwest Raleigh, and then update us on their accomplishments.
  4. A major strategy session on the following topics: (more…)

Shopping Ideas Needed for SWCAC

Friday, November 6th, 2009

I was reading the November 2009 edition of the SouthWest Citizens Advisory Council  newsletter [PDF] and thought I’d share an agenda item that I think is very important.  It’s a chance for you to provide input into what types of shopping and services you would like at future commercial space on Tryon Road, near Renaissance Park. From the agenda: (more…)

Tryon Road Project Update

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Many residents in the South West Citizens Advisory Council (SWCAC) are eager to see Tryon Road widened to four lanes from Cary to Garner. Some sections have been completed and others are still waiting for design and funding. The section of Tryon Road between Lake Wheeler Road and South Saunders Street is waiting on funding to build a new bridge over the railroad corridor East of RGA Golf Course. Some SWCAC citizens were curious about some of the roadway that is already complete, but lacks the landscaping elements shown in the design.

Senior Project Engineer , James Lynn Raynor, PE , with the City of Raleigh Public Works Department answered questions over email. The section of concern is the area of Tryon Road between Gorman Street and Lake Wheeler Road, which has been completed for quite some time now. Currently, the section is mostly four lanes with a median and four lanes with a center turn lane in some areas. The median is supposed to have landscaping. For the purposes of this article, landscaping will mean more than just mulch. Currently, the medians are only mulched. We would like to think that trees, shrubs, and other landscaping elements will add some beauty to the baron, mulched median.

Tryon Road Median, courtesy Google Maps & Streetview

Tryon Road Median, courtesy Google Maps & Streetview

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History: The Carolina Pines Hotel

Monday, October 12th, 2009

Earlier, we told you that we would be posting some local history from Raleigh. Here is our first entry about the Carolina Pines Hotel.

Carolina Pines Resort and Hotel

Located on the north side of Tryon Road adjacent to the Norfolk and Southern Railroad right-of-way, the Carolina Pines Hotel stands as a reminder of the early 20th century resort hotel movement in North Carolina. Opened on July 23, 1933 the hotel and surrounding 450-acre resort was the dream of Herbert Anderson Carlton, a local developer who wished to provide an idyllic retreat and recreational opportunities for well-to-do patrons, as well as people of ordinary means. To this end, he constructed the handsome Colonial Revival-style hotel building in the midst of a pine grove, and laid out two 18-hole golf courses, a riding club with 35 saddle horses, four tennis courts with night illumination, a lake and a swimming pool, a casino, an outdoor theater, polo grounds, a fishery, a pet farm, and girls’ and boys’ camps.

Carolina Pines Hotel now Delta Sigma Phi fraternity

Carolina Pines Hotel now Delta Sigma Phi fraternity

Although the Carolina Pines Resort and Hotel was modeled on similar North Carolina resorts such as Southern Pines in Moore County and the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, it presented a somewhat novel idea in that it promised choice recreational activities and luxurious accommodations for citizens of all classes at an affordable price. This was Mr. Carlton’s philanthropic philosophy, and was reflected in the interpretation of the Colonial Revival style of the hotel building. (more…)