[Durham INC] Study about Rail Road Crossings in Durham

[Angel Romero]

The type of solution that makes more sense for the railroad tracks in 
urban areas like Durham is to bury tracks underground in tunnels. This 
is what most developed countries do. And before anyone brings up the 
high cost and technical difficulties, in many cases the value of the 
land in the newly gained surface compensates for the cost. It becomes 
very valuable real estate. Technically, cities across the world, 
including American cities with different kinds of soil and near the sea 
have done it (think about New York City's subway and commuter trains). 
Gaining the surface would allow neighborhoods to reconnect, create new 
sidewalks, trails and construct residential buildings.

Angel Romero

On 4/26/2013 10:40 PM, Pat Carstensen wrote:
> There was a sequence of public forums this month about the study to 
> make the places where roads cross railroads in Durham safer.  I went 
> looking for more information on the web.  What I found:
>
> Minutes from presentation to INC in February 2012:
>
> Kevin Hall talked about the *Traffic Separation Study*, where the 
> "traffic" to be separated is what is on the railroad track through 
> town, which could be high-speed rail or more frequent commuter rail in 
> the future.  The options for the 18 crossing being studied are doing 
> nothing, closing the crossing, improving it with better marking or 
> barriers, or actually separating the grades of the street and the 
> railroad.  The changes could be anywhere from short-term (0-3 years) 
> to long-term (7-10 years).  It is an 18-month study, kicked off with 
> visioning workshops in November.  Nothing is decided yet as they are 
> still collecting data. The study will consider safety (e.g., accident 
> history), mobility and accessibility (how much traffic there is there, 
> for example), and social and economic resources (funding, land-use and 
> so on).  The one crossing people had major comments on was the Broad 
> Street / Swift Avenue one. John will send out the maps and comment 
> information to the list-serve so folks can ask their neighborhoods for 
> their ideas and input.
>
>
>
> There are similar studies going on in other NC cities, with more 
> detail on what is being proposed there.
>
> The best information I could find on the Durham study is at 
> http://www.durhamnc.gov/agendas_new/2012/cws20121217/8915_PRESENTATION_DURHAM_TRAFFIC_SEPARATION_319363_483869.ppt.PDF
>
> It looks like they are looking at making BIG, BIG HILLS so the road 
> can go over the railroad at Neal, LaSalle, Anderson, Swift/Broad, 
> Duke, and the list goes on.  The report on the Swift/Broad crossing 
> that we heard at the recent INC meeting was pretty scary.
>
> Regards, pat
>
>
>
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