RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Raleigh’s New Bern Avenue corridor is expected to see major changes in the future.
Among those changes is the build out of a park-and-ride facility for people to drop off their vehicle before jumping on the future Wake BRT: New Bern bus line. The Wake Bus Rapid Transit route servicing the New Bern Avenue corridor.
The route will connect downtown Raleigh with WakeMed and New Hope Road more quickly than the current service. The five-mile route will cost nearly $100 million to build out.
“There’s a lot of evidence to show a successful transit systems have a lot of folks that can walk within a quarter or half mile of the transit system,” Patrick Young, Raleigh’s city planning director told city council members.
City council members and staff jumped on buses themselves to see the impacted areas firsthand on Tuesday. At least 700 properties, including the former site of the DMV building staff visited on their tour, would be impacted in the coming years.
The city is changing rules about what can be developed around the corridor and is providing incentives to developers. Among those is encouraging private developers to build affordable housing in exchange for allowing them to build higher.
“If you build a great transit system, we want as many people in the city to enjoy the benefit of that right? So, we’re just trying to get more jobs, more housing approximate to that really valuable public investment,” explained Bynum Walte, assistant director of planning for the city.
The New Bern Avenue corridor is one of four rapid routes planned for the future.
Convincing people to change their mentality from private vehicles to public transit may be a challenge in itself.
“If you look at the investments that we’ve made in bicycle infrastructure in the city in the past five to 10 years, we’ve definitely rate of bicycle travel and recreation increase,” Walter said.