Western Boulevard Pedestrian Safety Forum to Take Place Nov. 8

The City of Raleigh and North Carolina State University are looking for ways to make Western Boulevard more pedestrian friendly.

A workshop to gather student and community feedback will take place Nov. 8.

The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization is conducting a Multi-Modal Crossing Study Western Boulevard. The study is in the information-gathering stage, collecting pedestrian and vehicular data on Western Boulevard from Pullen Road east.

Related: Check out CAMPO’s zoomable Western Boulevard map with information on each section of the study area.

Western Boulevard is one of the major roadways into downtown Raleigh, according to project manager Gerald Daniel Sr. of CAMPO.

He said since the Hillsborough Street renovation, some of that traffic has redirected to Western Boulevard through N.C. State’s campus.

The road bisects N.C. State’s Centennial Campus and the main campus, with student movement across the busy road at all times of day. Daniel said the study is not in direct response to any injuries or deaths, but said city and campus officials want to be proactive.

“Of course, from the City of Raleigh’s perspective, there’s a need to address vehicular capacity while also making it a safe corridor for bicyclists and pedestrians,” he said.

For now, Daniel said, there are no concrete plans in place and hearing from students and residents of the area will help guide the study.

“The study will eventually lead to some kind of recommendation,” Daniel said. “But we’re currently in the data collection phase still, and at the first public workshop we hope to release some of the information we’ve collected up to this point.”

Read the rest at RaleighPublicRecord.org.