As downtown street closes, here’s why Raleigh officials don’t fret about traffic
A section of South Street in downtown Raleigh will close for good on Monday, April 14, to make way for a new Red Hat Amphitheater just south of the existing one.
The street will be closed permanently between Dawson and McDowell streets. City officials said they need that block to build a new amphitheater and make room for a long-planned convention center expansion.
The city is still working on a plan to re-route traffic, pedestrians and cyclists around that section of South Street. It has proposed a new connector just south of the new amphitheater that would allow eastbound drivers to get from Dawson to McDowell. The single-lane connector would end at a new traffic light on McDowell, where drivers would turn left toward the heart of downtown.
The connector needs approval of the N.C. Department of Transportation, which owns Dawson and McDowell. NCDOT is still reviewing the designs, said Paul Kallam, the city’s transportation director.
In the meantime, Kallam said, the city isn’t worried about people getting around.
“While we don’t have a timetable for the proposed connector, our current downtown street grid allows for other opportunities for street connectivity in this area,” he wrote in an email.
The city has posted signs directing people to use Lenoir Street, just south of the existing amphitheater. Traffic counts show that about 3,300 cars and trucks used the block of South Street each day on average, Kallam said. If all of them were to use Lenoir Street instead, it would still only be at 60% of its capacity, he said.
That doesn’t mean that block of South Street won’t be missed. Nearby residents urged the city to keep it open because they consider it an important connection between downtown and the Boylan Heights neighborhood and Dorothea Dix Park.
But city staff said severing South Street was the only way to build a new amphitheater comparable in size to the existing one and within the city’s budget of $40 million.
The city had expected to complete the new amphitheater in time for the 2026 concert season, which begins in April. But design and permitting are taking longer than expected, and city officials can’t say yet when it will open.
Meanwhile, more than 35 shows are scheduled at Red Hat this summer, starting with country singer Warren Zeiders with Tyler Braden opening on April 25.
