The announcement for a series of workshops in late August says ” The NC Department of Transportation (NCDOT) intends to construct a new mobility hub (aka Amtrak station) at the site of the old freight rail depot in historic Downtown Wake Forest.”
Really??? I thought that the next step was to determine if the “mobility hub” was suitable for the small — one-quarter of an acre — parking lot the Town of Wake Forest owns where a derelict abandoned freight station was razed in the 1940s or 1950s after many complaints from business owners.
I know that replacing the parking lot with a new station would be a disaster for the nearby businesses.
The life blood of the downtown that pumps dollars into the town’s economy is the accessible, convenient parking, no charge, no limit parking. The parking lot has 54 spaces, two of them handicapped. The DOT plan would also wipe out the 12 parking spaces between the parking lot and the combination building to the north and the seven spaces on the street on the other side of the Susie Powell Garden, which would also be lost.
The reason for town government is to provide the utilities, facilities, streets and maintenance for the housing and the businesses in the town. One of its major responsibilities is to protect, encourage, promote and defend the town’s commercial life.
How does tearing out the parking lot to build an Amtrak station help the town’s commercial life?
We want the station. But it can be built in several other spots along White Street or nearby. How about the eight acres DOT owns in the southwest quadrant where East Holding Avenue meets South White Street? It is next to the tracks on fairly level land. DOT apparently plans to build a bridge over the tracks and extend East Holding to meet West Holding while continuing White to the south. There is ample room for a station.
And there are other pieces of land along South White that will change their use in the near future, as well as land near Rogers Road. The old 1840 right-of-way and road bed for the tracks may be torn up in one area and rebuilt to shorten a curve, and the adjoining land might be suitable for a station.
I urge all five commissioners — Nick Sliwinski, Ben Clapsaddle, Keith Shackleford, Faith Cross and Adam Wright — to take a morning or afternoon and walk along South White Street, talking to the business owners about the proposed change. Someone should be listening to them, but no one from the town has as yet.
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9 Responses
Why haven’t our town leaders asked WF citizens about this rather than pandering to the Governor and elected officials? It STINKS of future endeavors and politics. Our mayor has no vote, and that allows her to hide behind these green commissioners.
When do we get to call NCDOT to task for not addressing the REAL issue which is Capita Boulevard and why it mysteriously fell out of the STIP?!
Has anyone heard from Superdeal, Wake Forest Florist, or Holding Oil about how it could shut down their businesses?!
Meanwhile DOT refuses to be accountable for kicking Capital Boulevard down the line for 10 more years…unreal.
20, but who’s counting?
Go to public hearing and charette as the entire parking situation is being addressed in pre planning as well as ways to increase pedestrian customer flow, enhance appearances and give people a reason to not only stop in historic downtown Wake Forest, but to get off the train and enjoy being here. It’s not a given that “build it and they will come”. Requires great deal of planning which is being done. The larger plan also involves increasing outdoor green spaces in downtown.
May be 54 parking now but voters approved a referendem to build a new parking garage in downtown Wake Forest. Presumabily that will be built in the (near term) future.
Correction: Residential structures become Uninhabitable
Leave parking lot as is. When cars eventually get smaller and smarter, the spaces could be adjusted to accommodate the soon to be ubiquitous Ubers and Lyfts of the very near future. As for the hub…build it on the land that will be available when the residential structures now precariously positioned in the proximity of the high speed rail become inhabitable OMG! Imagine sleeping through those close encounters of the absurd kind .
There are reasons airports and nuclear power plants are positioned away from densely populated areas. Logistics being one. LOGIC being another.
Hear hear!