Gribblenation

Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina.  Two cities - roughly twenty miles apart.  Both are growing, have their own identity, and a little bit of a rivalry.  The major international airport is Raleigh-Durham, but don't tell anyone from Raleigh or Durham that they are the same city. There are a variety of different yet similar things in both cities.  One example is two separate bridges - both carry trains, eat trucks annually, and are beloved in their unique way. Raleigh's Peace Street Bridge and Durham's Can Opener Bridge (located at South Gregson at West Peabody) are both low-clearance Norfolk Southern railroad overpasses that for decades have taken out numerous unsuspecting tractor-trailers.  Each bridge resides near their respective city's downtowns - Durham's Brightleaf District and Raleigh's Glenwood South.  Over the years, the two bridges have generated media attention and a social media following. Durham's Can Opener Bridge: The bridge opened in 1940 ca...

North Carolina's passenger rail system had a record year in 2022.  Quickly bouncing back from the drastic drop in ridership during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Raleigh-to-Charlotte service saw a record of over 522,000 riders in 2022.  The four-times daily route (three on the Piedmont service and one on the Carolinian that continues to New York City) also had a record-breaking month of 55,493 travelers in October.  The overall ridership numbers within the state do not include passengers that utilized stations on other intercity lines that run through the state. (Silver Star, Crescent, Palmetto, and Silver Meteor) A Southbound Piedmont Train approaches the Durham Train Station.  More riders used the NCDOT-sponsored Piedmont service in 2022 than any other year prior. NC by Train celebrated the completion of the first phase of Charlotte's Gateway Station.  The first test runs to the Uptown Charlotte station occurred in November.  The new station will not be ready...

GoTriangle - The Research Triangle (NC) Public Transit Authority - is seeking public input on commuter rail between Clayton and Durham.  The proposed 37 mile heavy rail system would run concurrent along the existing North Carolina Central Railroad tracks.    The proposed Triangle Commuter Rail (GoTriangle.Org) The proposed plans would utilize existing Amtrak stations in Durham, Cary and the newly built Union Station in Raleigh.  One of the current draft plans include an additional 12 stations along the route.  The rail line would not have a station directly with Raleigh-Durham International Airport but would utilize shuttle busses from most likely the proposed Morrisville Station. The public input survey runs through November 6th and can be accessed here -  https://goforwardnc.org/commuterrail/ .

Recently I posted to SERoads about an NCDOT press release regarding the replacement of interstate exit signs in Mecklenburg County. According to the press release "New signs with reflective sheeting will be installed, improving reflectivity and removing the need for lighting on the sign structure. The completion date is September 3." New signs will be installed in the following locations: I-77, Exits 1-23 I-85, Exits 27-42 I-485, Exits 1 and 32-67 I-277, Exits 1 and 2 Well, as it turns out, NCDOT has been for the last week installing similar signs (currently only on overhead structures) on the Durham Freeway, mostly southbound. I decided it was easier to show examples of the new signs by driving around Durham instead of traveling to Charlotte: Here's a couple of the new signs at Exit 16A for US 15/501 North: A closer look at the next sign for Hillandale Road reveals the light fixtures formerly at the bottom of the sign have been removed: Sign changes have...

Since I've been concentrating efforts to chronicle the building of I-74 in SE NC and the re-signing of the Greensboro Loop over the past year, I have not focused on NCDOT and other road projects basically going on in my back yard. There are three, two if you count by contract number. These are the replacing of bridges along Garrett Road just south of US 15/501. The widening of 15/501 and bridge replacement over the New Hope Creek, and the building of a roundabout at the Durham headquarters for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of NC. 1. Garrett Road Bridge Replacements-This has been going on over the past year. Two temporary bridges and roads connecting them were created so the old bridges could be demolished and new bridges built. The new bridges have opened to traffic over the past few weeks. Here's a look at the construction area heading north on Garrett: The cleared area on the right was where the temporary road/bridge was located, traffic then went to the left of the other bridge mak...