Hillsborough Street Revitalization

submitted by Maugan on Monday, March 5 2001 at 1:18 PM

I was walking back to work from Mitch's this afternoon when I was solicited by a fellow under the canopy of the old abandoned theatre. At first, I thought it was another shameless attempt at getting me to try some new soap or trying to get me to give money to the indiginous salamanders of Madagaskar preservation fund, but no... it was a representative of the Hillsborough Street Initiative with slips of paper with their URL on it. They wanted us to go take their online survey. Actually something worth while is happening with respect to the revitalization of our "college street." I don't quite know what they will do with the data collected, but in any case here is the page. Go spend 30 seconds and fill it out.

posted by Joe on Monday, March 5 2001 at 1:33 PM

Dude, I was with you. He didn't solicit you. He said "here, fill out this survey," not "hey baby, how much for a piece?" If he had, I would have laughed at that spectacle.

Anyhow, it is a good idea to go fill out that survey.

3/5/2001 1:44:19 PM

i like it, but wheres the round things gonna be

3/5/2001 1:49:08 PM

I have seen the design for the NEW HILLSBOURGH street and it looks wonderful. It would be a dramatic change to finally clean up that street. and for the Business people its a goldmine waiting to be exploited.

Tally, ive seen people solicit Maugan with the "how much is a peice line" its quite interesting when its one of those homeless men on Hills.

3/5/2001 1:53:19 PM

what can I say... everyone from supermodels to hobos want me.

I'm a seksy bitch.

3/5/2001 1:55:41 PM

That is an interesting survey and an interesting project. It is certainly worth everyone's time who uses Hillsborough St. to fill it out.

3/5/2001 2:34:32 PM

Comon people, this is our chance to make it ours. Personnally, i think it needs a few dance clubs like G-Vegas (greenville) that people 18+ can get in and socialize, not just a buch of bars for people to get drunk at. Maugen knows what i'm talking about.

3/5/2001 3:25:29 PM

Yeah, I don't want the roundabouts though. Those cause confusion and are goofy.

3/5/2001 4:38:55 PM

Though I would love to see Hillsborough change, the fact that you were handed this survey in front of the old porn theatre / McDonalds speaks volumes about what is wrong with Hillsborough. This is prime real-estate that should be housing a club or a restaurant or SOMETHING yet it has sit there vacant for years because whoever owns it is more interested in charging an insane amount rather than see Hillsborough flourish.

Anyways, check out http://www.americana.ncsu.edu/2001/02/19/hc/390.html for a more accurate look of Hillsborough's future (Self promotion aside)

[Edited by Slackrat on 3/5/2001 at 10:11:45 PM. Reason: HTML -> Crazy code]

3/5/2001 10:10:20 PM

when do they plan on starting

3/5/2001 11:39:08 PM

isnt it fascinating how much the internet pervades every aspect of our society? try to imagine how someone would go about getting the same message across 20 years ago. they'd put flyers up everywhere. now, everyone assumes that the internet is so ubiquitous that they just hand out little slips of paper with their URL on it. progress never ceases to amaze me.

3/6/2001 12:02:55 PM

They were hanging up fliers as well.

3/6/2001 1:08:46 PM

Am I the only one that thinks the plan that they are proposing is a nightmare? Roundabouts and dropping traffic lanes on that street is, in my opinion, sheer lunacy. This is coming from old plans, but when the plan was discussed at a meeting I was attending all I could do is shake my head. The *only* way I could see that working is with the construction of a mega-parking-plex. Hillsborough street businessess are already hard to access for those not on campus due to parking. Eliminate the street-side parking and I'm sure as hell not going to walk fifteen minutes to get to Brothers Pizza. Maybe it's just me

3/6/2001 1:18:07 PM

I agree that dropping the number of lanes isn't a good idea, but getting cars off the side of the road would be nice. Also, if there is an adequate parking facility, then it would eliminate the need for that street side parking. In addition to being oogly, streetside parking poses a small, but noteworthy traffic hazard. I've seen at least two times, someone get rearended because they were trying to back into a parallel spot on H. Street. A parking deck would be nice, but then again, with the revitalization, there should be a lot more worth walking for on H. Street.

Speaking of that old theatre... I would LOVE to do something, anything with it. I just have no capital

3/6/2001 2:23:07 PM

I want to see Hillsborough Street rival Franklin Street in Chapel Hill.

3/6/2001 3:35:03 PM

I am NOT for reducing the number of lanes or for roundabouts. Otherwise, it is a good plan.

3/6/2001 5:11:26 PM

Yea the roundabouts are just gay. I think the biggest thing the committee has to realize is Hillsborough is always going to have a lot of traffic on it because it is an artery to downtown. It will never be anything until they do something about the parking situation. If they realize those two things (safety and parking) then I think the plan will work.

3/6/2001 5:31:15 PM

In my seminar class last semester we had 3 guys who work for the city come talk to us about urban planning and the Hillsborough project....

I asked em about that plan to install "roundabouts" and voiced my opinion about it (EVIL EVIL EVIL!!!!) The rationale for those things is that right now, a lot of the traffic on Hillsborough St. is caused by people who work in downtown who use that as their route to/from work. By adding in the roundabouts, they aim to slow down the traffic (isn't it slow enough as is???) and force the commuters onto Western as an alternate route...

IMHO traffic circles suck...ever driven in DC??? then you know what I'm talking about.

3/6/2001 7:25:33 PM

there are two reasons for reducing the number of lanes that run by the campus stretch of Hillsborough Street and dropping the speed limit.

First of all, it cuts down on the thru-traffic on the street. If people are just driving through the area, they would rather them take Western Blvd. or Wade Ave.

Also, it gives them more room for perpendicular parking on the side of the road.

And finally, less traffic gives the area more opportunity to be geared more to pedestrians.

3/6/2001 7:39:04 PM

choco - the traffic circles on Hillsborough St would be nowhere near as bad as the ones in DC. On Hillsborough, the circles would have at most 4 streets coming out of them. In DC, most are at least 6-spoked, or, like Dupont Circle, 10.

3/6/2001 8:10:16 PM

Speaking of DC... guess where m00gie is gonna be for spring break

3/6/2001 8:17:24 PM

What's so bad about that? I'm going there the next week. . .

3/6/2001 8:30:25 PM

the city needs to redirect thru traffic off of hillsborough street. the success of hillsborough street depends on their being convenient parking and it being pedestrian friendly. the speed limit needs to be lowered and enforced. i dont knwo what it currently is but people fly down that street. speed limit needs to be 20 just like downtown.

3/6/2001 9:45:39 PM

The only part of the plan i have a problem with is the "8 ft wide lanes on both sides of street for bicycles and buses." I ride my bike just about everywhere on campus, and bikes and buses do not mix.

3/6/2001 9:46:26 PM

regardless of how many "spokes" the traffic circles have, I still think they are a hideous idea.

3/7/2001 10:38:40 AM

Screw the whole idea. I don't care if any of you go for PHD's, this crap would never get finished before we graduate. While I wouldn't mind it if Hillborough was a little more exciting, I KNOW I don't want to see any more traffic down there. And your all about losing some lanes? So then most of the traffic would flood western, which is bad enough as it is around all those fast food joints. (Can't you get into the fucking turn lanes?) There would have to be some relief route to get into Raleigh.

I personally believe they should build around the new campus on that 4 lane road with nothing on it.

Even if they come up with the greatest idea for everybody in regards to Hillborough, do you want all of that hassle? If it were approved, I imagine they would shut down hillsborough completely for a long time. Think about it, what other construction sites have you seen for the state?

I live along NC 55 which has been a work zone for 4 (FOUR) years now. In all of that time they have installed 1 stoplight. They also patched 3 very short (60 feet maybe) of road. Which by the way is already gone again.

Or when the beltline has been a work zone several times.... Signs and cones out there for months, but no workers, until its 2 weeks before the projects up. Then they are out there day and night and do a half ass job, which falls apart within the year.

Or how about Greensborough? (you know what I mean) How long has that been a work zone? When I do see workers out there, only half are actually doing something... The rest use their shovels at crutches.

How about up in the mountains going toward Western?

I'm sure you have all seen crap like this..... I just don't have any faith that something might actually happen. I would also like to see other projects instead (widen 55, widen Davis Dr., finish the Outer Loop!!!, widen 40 from RTP to Chapel Hill) Ahhhh who knows....

3/9/2001 11:57:43 AM

Although revitalizing Hillsborough Street is a good thing, before you go bashing conserving salamanders in Madagascar, you may want to look up how to spell it correctly (it has a c, not a k).

3/26/2001 6:36:22 PM