144 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

WRAL-TV, Channel 5 in Raleigh, NC, 12/4/18:

 

 

 

Duke, DPAC could still derail Durham-Orange light rail plan    

 

 

 

Despite a controversial vote late Monday to rezone land off Farrington Road for a railroad maintenance facility, the proposed Durham-Orange Light Rail line still faces major hurdles.

 

Read

[KevinKorell]

Raleigh, NC News-Observer, 12/6/18:

 

 

 

GoTriangle now has 2 light-rail contracts in hand, after Chapel Hill concerns addressed

 

 

One of roughly a dozen critical Durham-Orange light rail agreements was approved late Wednesday after a two-hour discussion, mostly about when the agreement might expire.

 

 

Go

[KevinKorell]

Letter to Duke University [i]Chronicle[i], 12/7/18:

 

 

Letter: Reasons not to support the light rail project

 

I saw that Duke Chronicle recently published the petition from a bunch of M.P.P. and M.D. students asking Price to join in on the light rail project. However, I feel that Duke Chronicle needs to give a people who oppose the current plan or at least have concerns about the current plan a voice as well.

 

Letter

[KevinKorell]

WRAL-TV, Channel 5 in Raleigh, NC, 12/14/18:

 

 

Tunnel could be solution to move Durham-Orange light rail project forward

 

 

Another hurdle has been cleared for the Durham-Orange light rail system as a controversial proposal to close a busy intersection is now off the table.

 

 

This is the latest.

[KevinKorell]

Raleigh, NC News & Observer, 12/20/18:
 

 

       More criticism of GoTriangle, despite light-rail tunnel planned for downtown Durham   


 
GoTriangle is getting more criticism from a Durham business leader even after making a major change to plans for light-rail tracks downtown.

 

The latest

 

[KevinKorell]

Guest column in Raleigh, NC News and Observer, 12/30/18:

 

 

 

The Orange-Durham light rail has become a runaway train

 

 

 

In November, I resigned from GoTransit Partners, the group charged with fundraising for Durham-to-Chapel Hill light rail.

 

The reason was a last minute plan to close the Blackwell/Corcoran rail crossing to vehicular traffic, severing downtown Durham’s most vital artery. This mysteriously emerged so late in the process that GoTriangle said it was impossible to make significant changes.

 

Complete column continues

[KevinKorell]

Editorial in Raleigh, NC News & Observer, 12/27/18:

 

 

 

12/28 Letters: We need to stop this rail project.

 

 

Go Triangle, the nebulous entity pushing rail service between UNC Chapel Hill. Duke, and N. C. Central University, has upped the ante again. What started out as a regional network to points in Orange, Durham and Wake Counties, including RDU International Airport, morphed into a Duke-UNC-NCCU connector after Wake County dropped out. Now the cost has increased again, with the proposal that tunnels be dug to accommodate the line.

 

 

Editorial

[KevinKorell]

So that's two negatives in one night.... and many more before it.   What people are complaining about is that the Durham-Orange County system as now conceived is too small.  It does not serve the area's biggest city, Raleigh, or its train station or airport.   Now keep  in mind that I am typing the 118th element of this thread, which dates back to October of 2004. 14+ years ago, during which this project has changed faster than light speed.  If you read back to some of those earlier portions of this thread,  the faces may be different and the thoughts were as well.

 

What the Triangle area wanted was a regional commuter rail system connecting all the dots in the area, centered upon the RDU Airport and the Research Park (IBM etc.).  It was cut back and cut back so that now it's a light rail only going from Durham west to Orange County.   To get to this from Raleigh you will need to take a bus, or jump on one of the Piedmont or Carolinian frequencies.  In a sense, what people are saying they want now, they were rejecting the bigger picture back then in the last decade, and now are waking up to the fact that a lot more needs to be connected.   

 

With the mode certainly to be light rail, there is little chance this will ever again be regional rail.  But plans could be made to build spurs and extensions to the starter line once it gets going.  Get a line to downtown Raleigh, with its Amtrak connections and RDU Airport.  Get out to the various colleges whose students will need to make couple hour trips by rail from one end of the Triangle area to another.  But let the first segment be built so that it can be a model for future things to come.

[KevinKorell]

Raleigh, NC News & Observer, 1/23/19:

 

 

 

How light rail will change downtown Durham housing and jobs

 

 

 

As leaders of the Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit project work on finalizing funding and design, a group in Durham has a different priority: making sure people can afford to live near every stop.

 

 

Story

[KevinKorell]

Raleigh, NC News & Observer, 2/1/19:

 

 

 

Neighbors take fight against Durham-Orange light-rail yard to court

 

 

 

Southwest Durham residents have filed a lawsuit to keep a proposed light-rail maintenance yard out of their neighborhood.

 

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