Pop quiz: Name 4 Raleigh streets downtown that you can also find outside the beltline. Hillsborough, New Bern, Glenwood and . . .
thats about it. If you look at a map you’ll see that Wilmington sneaks under the beltline, but those are the only ones inside the original grid that keep their names outside of the beltline. (Glenwood is outside of the original grid, but I think we can consider that “downtown” now) What happens to the grid? What about the east-west Martin, Hargett and Jones Streets? What about the north-south Wilmington, Blount and Person Streets?
Road names in Raleigh can be slightly confusing for the uninitiated. If you don’t believe me try taking a drive along New Hope-Millbrook-Duraleigh-Blue Ridge or as I like to call it the middle loop. This happens to a few roads downtown as well. Capital is split into McDowell and Dawson and Person changes into Wake Forest. While I don’t suggest changing the names now, it would be nice to see Capital Boulevard downtown or the intersection of Person and Six Forks. Some may argue that the name of the road doesn’t mean much as long as it takes you where you want to go. The name, however, helps to reinforce downtown away from the city. It makes downtown more familiar: someone visiting Glenwood South can think, this is the same street that runs by Crabtree. Also it makes it easy to get downtown without thinking: Try giving someone directions to downtown via Hillsborough Street or Falls of the Neuse. Although neither one requires “turning” the name changes in the latter make it a confusing trip.
Looking at satellite imagery, Raleigh’s roads resemble more of a web than a grid. While diverging from the grid can give a city character, it can make getting around difficult. Take southwest downtown for instance; going west can get frustrating until you finally run into Hillsborough Street or Western Boulevard. North and south are better, but there are gaps every now and then. Going east the grid remains practically intact all the way to Raleigh Boulevard. An intact grid means better connectivity, which means a closer tie to downtown. Its important that downtown is a cohesive part of the city: ideally it should be difficult to tell where downtown “ends”.
Unfortunately there aren’t many fixes for the issues raised. Roads could be renamed, but this goes against tradition and could result in more confusion. The grid could be extended, but that costs money, destroys property AND history in its path. There are no easy answers. Signage should play an important role, we’re spending money to make downtown a destination, so we should advertise it an all the major roads in Raleigh. Signs should be carefully designed: we want it to draw attention, but not to look like the South of the Border signs on I-95.
The grid should also be strengthened, I’m not suggesting that everything inside of 440 look like a giant tic-tac-toe game, but it should be easy to get into downtown. We need more connections to the West so that its a “part” of downtown.