Raleigh fire station must find new home to make way for high-speed rail

A fire station that serves northeast Raleigh must move to make way for a proposed high-speed rail line.

Fire Station No. 22 could relocate from its current spot on Durant Road to 1.3 acres of city-owned property at 10050 Durant Road near Abbotts Creek Park. The site is about a mile away.

Raleigh staff on Tuesday recommended budgeting $9 million to build a new station. The City Council is expected to vote on the issue Sept. 5.

A new station would be much larger than the existing facility, which opened in 1998 and is 5,000 square feet. The new station would be 14,000 square feet and two stories.

Design work could begin next month, and construction could start in fall 2018. The station could be operational in early 2020.

“We want to make sure we continue to provide uninterrupted critical services,” said Priscilla Williams, Raleigh’s city construction projects administrator.

The existing station site is in the path of the state-proposed Southeast High-Speed Rail project, which would expand passenger rail service between Raleigh and Richmond, Virginia.

The project would require a grade separation at the interchange of Durant Road and the CSX rail line, which would improve safety by minimizing pedestrian crossings. But it would require the N.C. Department of Transportation to condemn the entire Fire Station No. 22 property.

Raleigh was notified by DOT earlier this year that the project was fully funded and would move forward. Work on the grade separation is expected to begin in March 2019.

It would be years before high-speed rail service is in the area.

City Manager Ruffin Hall said the city will receive some compensation from DOT for the building and the land.

This story was originally published August 15, 2017 at 3:53 PM with the headline "Raleigh fire station must find new home to make way for high-speed rail."