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OBSERVATIONS
March 12, 2020 |
 |
 Wingate Lassiter |
Here's an idea for "commuter rail"
service sooner rather than later
GoTriangle's preliminary report on commuter rail in our region is somewhat discouraging, in two respects:
(1) Extension of proposed service from Raleigh to Selma doesn't appear "viable" in the immediate future, at least under the U.S. Transit Administration's rating system that determines projects most likely to win federal grants.
(2) Even if commuter rail is extended as far east as Clayton, which appears more plausible than the Selma extension at this point, it's probably 10 years away from coming to pass.
That's what a GoTriangle official told our County Commissioners last week.
So here's my idea for an interim project that could get us started down that road and wouldn't directly burden Johnston County's taxpayers:
The
N.C. Department of Transportation, through Amtrak, is
already providing supplemental rail-passenger service
between Raleigh and Charlotte with three daily round trips
of its "Piedmont" trains (like this one on the left)
complementing Amtrak's New York-to-Charlotte "Carolinian"
service (which makes stops at Selma, by the way). NCDOT
plans to add a third Raleigh-Charlotte round trip a couple
of years from now and is already acquiring equipment to
make that work.Why not extend one of those trains eastward to Clayton and Selma and on to Goldsboro? It could head west from its eastern terminus early in the morning and return late afternoon or early evening, in effect providing a "Down East" commuting option to Raleigh and beyond.
That's not pure "commuter rail" since it's just one train as opposed to numerous trains running every half hour during rush hours. But it would be a less costly start that could be done in short time, if the state's leaders would give it a chance.
What a relief: new road gets a name of its own
The Smithfield Town Council came to its senses last week and assigned a single name to the newly widened as well as newly constructed portions of what was Booker Dairy Road between Buffalo Road and Bright Leaf Boulevard (US 301).
Thank goodness.
Not only does the new name "Durwood Stephenson Parkway" avoid confusion for folks needing directions, especially emergency responders. The new name also does justice to a unique and attractive highway that deserves an upgraded identity as a "Parkway" rather than just another road.
Meanwhile, "Booker Dairy Road" continues as the name for its older, two-lane section that intersects Bright Leaf near the site of the family dairy that gave the road its name to begin with.
Place names are important, for practical as well as historical reasons. It's good to see our elected leaders moving more sensibly with the naming task.
Looking westward along Durwood Stephenson Parkway from the sidewalk in front of the Recreation and Aquatics Center. The town will ask NCDOT to extend that name to include Durwood Stephenson Highway all the way to US 70 Business.
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