When it comes to Raleigh planning, people first – cars and traffic second

A big change is coming to Hillsborough Street, perhaps the biggest change in 100 years. Will this be the model for other streets in Raleigh?

The City of Raleigh proposes widening sidewalks, installing new lighting, burying power lines and adding three traffic roundabouts to a third-of-a-mile portion of Hillsborough Street.

Recently, the Raleigh City Council directed its surveyors to mark the three new roundabouts at Brooks Avenue, Dixie Trail and Shepherd Street. These roundabouts were first proposed in 1996 when Bill Clinton was president and, like the platform flip-flops and scrunchies of the ’90s, they might have outlived their shelf life.

In the 1990s, roundabouts were thought of as a way to tame traffic. But Hillsborough Street has a greater promise today than simply being a traffic corridor: It has the potential to be one of Raleigh’s best streets for walking. Ultimately, Hillsborough Street should be for people. As the great urban planner Lewis Mumford said, “It’s impossible to meet and greet anyone going more than 3 miles an hour.”

So it may be time to reconsider the three new roundabouts. They’re so big that some businesses at these intersections will be forced to close and other buildings will have to be purchased and demolished. They will replace intersections that are urban, functional and showing no signs of needing wholesale reworking.

If our goal is to create spaces that are urbane and walker friendly, perhaps the roundabout needs to be retired.

Indeed, a litmus test is already available on Hillsborough Street. A short walk along Chamberlain, Pogue and Enterprise streets offers a real city feeling, with shops and restaurants, on-street parking and old-fashioned street corners. But as we continue east to the roundabout at Pullen Road, we encounter a huge expanse of asphalt where pedestrians are funneled into narrow, fenced-in pathways around the edge. College students used to walk 35 feet from street corner to street corner. Now they have to walk over 300 feet, the length of a football field, to cross the street. Forget about meeting someone. It’s dangerous to even walk there.

Not a single business fronts this space, nor will there ever be one with the crazy patchwork of restrictions, curved block fronts, fenced sidewalks and absence of access for cars and people alike. Now imagine this experience three more times in 1,800 feet where the new roundabouts are proposed.

As architects, we concern ourselves with the quality of the built environment. Cars and traffic flow are important, but city streets must function as more than pipes for traffic. Active, energized buildings and people should come first, cars and traffic second.

The roundabouts are not only unnecessary, but some of us fear they’ll also do more harm than good. Add to that an inflating budget, which began at $7 million and now stands at more than $16 million – around $6,000 per linear foot of street – and it’s easy to see why the City Council is interested in one last look before funding the project.

Now is the time for members of the community to take a walk on both ends of the street, have a look at the proposed roundabout markings, take a stroll through the shops at Pogue and Chamberlain, and walk through the roundabout at Pullen Road. Let council members know what you think, because this decision will affect the character and quality of our streets for a generation or more.

When nurturing our precious urban fabric, sometimes less is indeed more.

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 5:18 PM with the headline "When it comes to Raleigh planning, people first – cars and traffic second."