"Raleigh Walks" Pedestrian Infrastructure Campaign

[Audio] Welcome to the Raleigh Walks campaign. Thank you for allowing me to speak today about the importance of our city's pedestrian infrastructure for Raleigh's future..

[Audio] The Triangle area, and Raleigh in particular, have been experiencing tremendous growth. The US Census data shown here has placed Raleigh in the top ten of the fastest growing regions in the country. This stream of new residents puts pressure on all the city's infrastructure systems. Raleigh's current growth is due in part to a huge demographic shift. Since the pandemic began, people in large metropolitan areas have been migrating to second tier cities like Nashville, Salt Lake City—and Raleigh. They bring with them new consumer preferences..

[Audio] Consumer preferences have changed over the years and especially since the pandemic. Nowadays, people despise wasting time commuting. They prefer to live in neighborhoods where they can also work, dine, and shop without having to travel. Reducing daily transportation times allows for more free time and increases quality of life which is important to today's consumers. When transportation is needed, consumers want options beyond just their own car. Ride sharing apps, autonomous vehicles, e-scooters, public transports, and other options are in high demand. People are also much more aware of environmental impacts and prefer more sustainable options. Furthermore, they desire a more inclusive and equitable society. Lastly, consumers have been suffering from sky rocketing housing costs and want to see an end to the housing shortage. To meet all the above listed resident preferences, city planners must implement changes to Raleigh's development and infrastructure..

[Audio] People have come to loathe wasting their time commuting every day to everything they want to do. Car only communities are out of favor as consumers today want to work, live, dine, shop, and access services within their own neighborhood instead of having to drive to five separate places for each of these necessities..

[Audio] Today's consumers prefer mixed used neighborhoods that offer them all they need for daily life. They can live here, work here, find services, dine, and shop – all within their own neighborhood. Decreasing transportation needs and reducing wasted time previously spent on driving around is not all. Mixed-use neighborhoods also foster community bonds. All these benefits increase quality of life..

[Audio] Current market conditions are such that Raleigh's residents easily pay over $3 per square foot for housing. For one bedroom studio apartments with just 500 square feet that results in a rent of $1,500 - plus utilities on top of that. Furthermore, NC State students routinely pay over $1,000 for just a single bedroom in four bedroom apartments. In addition to wanting more housing and affordability, people also want cleaner air and reduced emissions. The old ways of a car centric life and a car centric city are not in line with today's consumer preferences..

[Audio] Excessive housing cost is one of the most pressing issues most consumers face as it takes up the largest chunk of their earnings. To bring housing cost down, Raleigh must find ways to end the housing shortage. Since there is only limited undeveloped land left to build upon, the city must encourage more efficient use of it. City Council already abandoned parking minimums that wasted land and increased cost per housing unit built. To further encourage builders to build more, the city is also allowing more mixed-used zoning and denser developments. All these desperately needed urban planning and zoning changes have great significance for pedestrian infrastructure needs..

[Audio] One effect of denser developments without parking minimums is that other transportation options will be required. Walking is one of them. Also, many people will want to use public transport such as buses. However, even to reach the nearest bus station, people must still walk there first. Therefore, Raleigh needs a better and safer pedestrian infrastructure. Another effect of denser development and more housing units is an increase in the number of residents per neighborhood. Many more residents will need services, stores, and restaurants they can walk to. Improving pedestrian infrastructure is crucial for their safety. It also helps local businesses capture all these new customers, all of which increases tax revenues to the city..

[Audio] In addition to the changing consumer preferences and city zoning issue, the city of Raleigh must also work on pre-existing inequities in pedestrian safety. They exist all across the nation and the chart shown here is the result of an analysis done by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The national average is 2.06 fatalities per 100,000 people. However, for people with an income of $15,000 or less, the fatalities increase to 5.23 per 100,000..

[Audio] Raleigh's less prosperous areas lack significantly more sidewalks and street crossings than wealthy areas. This is particularly unfair given that less prosperous areas have lower car ownership per household and need more transportation options, such as safe pedestrian infrastructure. Here are two images showing examples of missing sidewalks on Lake Wheeler Rd and Norris Street in Raleigh..

[Audio] Until this year, Raleigh has used a petition-driven system for new sidewalks. Residents had to file a petition with the city if they wanted to ask for a sidewalk. Then a balloting system was used to gauge the support of the neighborhood for the petition. From 2017 to 2022, a mere 8 miles of new sidewalks were added in Raleigh. The slide shown here is from April's city council work session and shows an equity analysis. It is evident that the more prosperous and more white areas in Raleigh filed significantly more petitions even though they were not missing nearly as many sidewalks as the less prosperous and less white areas of town. Raleigh has a lot to make up for regarding these systemic inequities. Over many years, the city's petition system has hurt pedestrian safety in less prosperous area and prevented any improvements..

[Audio] "Raleigh Walks" public campaign goals are to raise residents' awareness and engagement with the city's plan review process, to explain how residents and businesses benefit from improved pedestrian infrastructure, to increase inclusive and equitable pedestrian infrastructure, and to gain support for beneficial zoning changes..

[Audio] Currently, Raleigh's transportation department is reviewing the pedestrian plan before sending a recommendation to city council in May of 2025. This is a great opportunity for the community to ask questions and have their voices heard. Some of the ways to get involved are attending and speaking at the city's open houses and/or city council meetings, contacting the city's transportation department as well as the two project leaders, and volunteering at community outreach efforts..