Op-Ed: We can do better than widening Alston
Posted on March 18, 2008
Filed Under op-ed, urban design
Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
A March 2007 report from the John Locke Foundation (JLF) encouraged NC DOT and cities around the state to widen roads as the primary transportation strategy for economic development and alleviating congestion.
In April that year, I wrote a column for the Herald Sun questioning the study’s findings, casting doubt in particular on whether the findings even applied to Durham. As I did then, I still encourage you to read it for yourself. I noted then,
By [David Hartgen’s] own admission, single-occupancy driving declined in Durham between 1990 and 2000, the time period at which his academic gaze is focused. The data show, and so he also admits, that carpooling and use of public transit increased. He notes further that “Durham is the only urbanized area in the state to report declining solo driving times and increased carpooling and transit shares between 1990 and 2000.” You might think, then, that the conclusions he reaches for Charlotte or Raleigh ought to differ from the conclusions he reaches for Durham’s future.
Across the state, however, it’s all the same. Eliminate transit. Widen roads. Pave early and often.
Concluding the article, I asked,
Whether DOT will side with the John Locke Foundation or Durham residents remains to be seen, but the question remains for each of us to consider.
Do roads exist to serve people or cars?
At the time I wrote that, I thought Durham had strong, visionary leadership that could see through the misguided Civitas/John Locke Foundation mindset which thinks of road widening as economic development.
The City still has an able Transportation department, and in November the people of Durham voted against the Art Pope-backed candidate for mayor. So, why is City Council considering toeing the JLF line? What happened to our leadership?
On his website Endangered Durham, Gary Kueber has some rich thoughts on why City Council may lack the self-confidence to send NC DOT back to the drawing board, but the bottom line is that it looks like City Council is afraid of giving up $28 million in planned development.
Even when that $28 million would make Alston Avenue more dangerous for pedestrians, cyclists, and arguably even for drivers.
If you don’t know this area well, you might need some help visualizing it. You might also need some help visualizing what a good redesign could look like. In his March 14th post, Kueber has satellite imagery of the current state of things, but I also encourage you to visit the intersection of Highway 55 and Highway 54 for perhaps the best case scenario of what could possibly come out of NC DOT’s design. Keep in mind, there’s no guarantee that Alston will magically develop as the intersection of 54 and 55 has, since this portion of Alston lacks the close proximity to RTP. I’m throwing it out there only as an example of very wide highways with “economic development” on all corners.
It’s also worth pointing out that the intersection of 54 and 55 doesn’t sit in the middle of a neighborhood. It’s light industrial and commercial. Alston Avenue, however, bisects several mill villages, and strip-mall development is about the best one can hope for.
But strip-malls are not the only form of economic development. Nor, when you offer people choices, are they the most desirable. Truly supporting a community is about encouraging the development of outlets that meet the community’s needs.
Paving and widening, then, is about as destructive as you can get.
Philosopher Joseph Raz says that the only way that governments can authoritatively act to preserve and enhance the freedom of the governed is if government decisions and policies create meaningful choices for citizens.
The choice between leaving Alston Avenue as it is and widening it beyond recognition, beyond the boundaries of safety, is not a meaningful choice. It’s also a false dichotomy.
So, you may still need more help visualizing what a meaningful redesign could look like.
A consulting group called Urban Advantage uses computer generated photo-realistic images to demonstrate how to transform roads like Alston Avenue with real economic development.
While the landscape in the photographs (below) is actually Richmond, Virginia, it might as well be east Durham. The images show a series of design changes a city (or private developer for that matter) can make to enhance the sense of community, bring economic development back to devastated areas, and create safe public environments for pedestrians and cyclists, for children and the elderly.
Will our City Council have the willingness and the guts to promote real change in Durham? Or is a six-lane freeway cutting through a neighborhood the most we can expect from them? And since we elect the Council, is this the most we can expect from ourselves?
Existing conditions
Underground utilities, new sidewalks and crosswalks, street tress, lamps, and on-street parking
Renovation of older buildings, new work-live buildings
- Also published at OpEdNews.com under the title, Un-Lockeing Local Politics
- Published in the Herald Sun.
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4 Responses to “Op-Ed: We can do better than widening Alston”
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CM Durham
What is Critical Mass?
15 March 2008
Dear Mayor Bell and Council members,
I strongly agree with Scott Harmon and many others asking very good questions (see below).
Building a multi-lane through-way will divide the community, not help it.
Gary Kueber offers a workable alternative: “shift the state money to Fayetteville St., and let NCDOT do their unitary suburban highway design down by Martin Luther King. Then shift the city money that would have been spent on Fayetteville to Alston - so that the city can design a better road. Combined with streetscape funds from the Office of Economic Development, we could build a functional and beautiful street that would be the envy of other parts of Durham.”
With community opposition rising, why the sudden rush?
You can read more reaction here…
http://endangereddurham.blogspot.com/2008/03/highway-style-alston-avenue-rears-its.html
http://uplifteastdurham.blogspot.com/2008/02/alston-ave-widening.html
http://www.bullcityrising.com/2008/03/alston-ave-wide.html
http://dependableerection.blogspot.com/2008/03/alston-ave-widening.html
all best,
John
> Mayor Bell and Council Members,
>
> I¹m catching up on reading about the proposed Alston Avenue widening, and
> I¹m stunned that this project is being considered in its current form. How
> could the same leaders that support such innovative best practices in urban
> planning in our downtown be in support of this plan?
> The suggestion that
> the half-freeway is needed to restore economic
> vitality to the area is
> unbelievable. Does anyone see the irony that at the same time we¹re getting
> ready to spend millions of dollars to fix one
> mistake (the loop in downtown)
> that we¹re getting ready to make the same mistake, right in the middle of
> one of the most vulnerable neighborhoods in our
> City?
>
> Why does East Durham deserve less quality urban
> planning than downtown? Why
> are nationally recognized best practices in road design and transportation
> being ignored? How much damage has to be done to East Durham before we
> start trying to create an environment that actually sustains the residents
> and merchants of that neighborhood?
>
> Please stop pushing this plan and let DOT find some other neighborhood to ruin.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Scott Harmon
> [downtown Durham]
Phil,
The urbanism pictures of what alston could look like are gorgeous. However, I would wager that underground utilities are a pipe dream anywhere in durham. Folks in watts-hillandale have been asking about them for quite some time now (if only to reduce power outages during storms) and the answer has always been that it is too expensive to do.
Though I would love see all the other changes you suggest. Maybe one more though:
Maybe make the on-street parking the physical barrier for a bike lane all the way down alston. Just like you see in lovely european cities.
-sv
[...] I later wrote a Herald Sun Op-Ed on this [...]
Seth, I agree that underground utilities are not just expensive, but appear to many right now as a pipe-dream in Durham. We will continue to enjoy only mediocre urban-redesign, however, if that’s all we demand of our elected officials and developers. Other cities our size have buried their utility cables, and at equally great expense.
How much are the hundreds years old oaks in Durham worth? How much is our landscape worth? How do we even begin to answer such questions? Are we willing to pay that price?