(The following story by Margie Fishman appeared on the News & Observer website on December 30.)
DURHAM, N.C. — From ironing out the zigzag pattern of downtown streets to rolling out the welcome mat to developers south of the train tracks, city leaders and tourism officials are desperately trying to connect the dots downtown to encourage people to mill around the city center.
But with the N.C. Railroad’s recent proposal to close a piece of a planned north-south corridor to all but pedestrians, some are concerned it could strangle the heart of Durham.
“Our entire railroad line could either be something that’s very good for downtown Durham and provides the linkages between districts, or it could be a great divide,” said Bill Kalkhof, president of Downtown Durham Inc., a booster group.
Railroad officials say closing the intersection at Blackwell and Pettigrew streets to traffic would reduce the incidence of train-car collisions and create an opportunity for a 65-foot-long landscaped pedestrian underpass connecting the American Tobacco redevelopment with the downtown core.
“That’s the worst problem on the railroad — cars trying to beat the train,” said Scott Saylor, president of the railroad, which owns 317 miles of track linking Charlotte, the Triad, the Triangle and Morehead City.
The $4 million project — expected to be financed by the railroad — is not budgeted until 2006, but railroad officials began meeting with city officials, business leaders and planning staff this month. The City Council would need to approve closing the street.
There have been five vehicle-train collisions at the intersection in the past 22 years, none resulting in death, according to state and federal transportation records. This month, a man was seriously injured at the Pettigrew crossing when his van got trapped between the crossing’s motorized arms and a Norfolk Southern train crashed into the passenger side. On Monday, motorists couldn’t navigate several crossings downtown, including the one at Pettigrew, after the crossing arms malfunctioned for more than two hours.
Since 1993, the state Department of Transportation has closed 100 railroad crossings it deemed unsafe, some featuring humps that can snag tractor-trailers, school buses and firetrucks.
Compounding the problem in Durham, railroad officials say, is the Triangle Transit Authority’s plan to operate a regional rail system from Ninth Street to downtown Raleigh by 2008. Today, Norfolk Southern and Amtrak use the tracks to run a combined 10 freight and passenger trains through downtown each day. TTA’s plans involve laying down two additional tracks, with 55-mph trains rumbling in and out every 7 1/2 minutes at peak times. To support that much activity, TTA wants to build a 20-foot retaining wall that would slope down along Pettigrew Street.
TTA General Manager John D. Claflin said he supported the railroad’s proposal, but Mayor Bill Bell and a project manager at American Tobacco said it needed further study, particularly the issue of stubbing out Blackwell Street where it turns into Corcoran Street, one of three main access points to the sprawling historic redevelopment project.
Next month, the city will begin work on making Corcoran a straight north-south connector.
Traffic flow can’t be impeded on Corcoran for the city to realize its vision, Kalkhof said.
The railroad studied carving out an underpass for pedestrians and cars, but the cost was prohibitive, Saylor said. He noted that other nearby crossings would remain open to traffic.
The Pettigrew crossing is a popular cut-through for pedestrians when the Durham Bulls play, but it was empty at lunchtime Monday, except for the cars flying from all four directions.
Eventually, American Tobacco will have a Starbucks, restaurants, condos, shops, a walking trail, an artificial stream and as many as 4,000 employees. The city has plans to plop a performing arts center nearby. With all those amenities, would anyone venture across the tracks, even if the space were airy and well-lit?
Peter Anlyan, general project manager for American Tobacco, said he couldn’t answer whether a pedestrian walkway would encourage employees to sample Main Street and beyond.
The project’s developer, Capitol Broadcasting Co., runs a free trolley from American Tobacco to select downtown destinations every day about lunchtime, but it is not heavily used, he said. He suggested that one way to improve the appearance of the tracks would be to make them more “museumlike,” perhaps by installing an old caboose.