RE-THINKING THE RAILROAD LINDSEY NAYLOR // MAY 5, 2016
PROJECT STATEMENT: This project explores how the historically under-served East Durham neighborhood can utilize the land-banking model and rail-with-trail greenway development to re-claim land cut off by urban-renewal freeway construction, improving local access to job centers, public open space, and public transit.
PROJECT NARRATIVE: The railroad was the economic engine that drove development in Durham and East Durham. Manufacturing centers opened along the rail corridor in the nineteenth century, and business and residential districts grew around them. Durham’s population grew by more than 300 percent in the early twentieth century, and development spread outward from the downtown Durham and East Durham rail corridors. The institutions that are now North Carolina Central University and Durham Technical Community College opened their doors to the south of the railroad, and East Durham communities had easy access to them and to the thriving Hayti district through routes that connected across the railroad tracks. The construction of the Durham Freeway severed connections between the neighborhood and amenities to the south, and it pinched the stretch of parcels along the railroad from Fayetteville Street to the southeast. This created an inactive border zone, as circulation here was limited to motorists cutting through on Pettigrew Street and to employees of the industrial and manufacturing companies that came to dominate this stretch. Industrialization along the railroad has made this stretch of parcels among the most polluted in Durham. This pinched stretch of parcels between the freeway and the railroad — and extending north of the railroad by one to two blocks — are zoned industrial and butt into districts zoned for commerce and multi-family residential development. The Future Land Use map — part of the Durham Comprehensive Plan — reflects the city’s desired growth pattern and provides a guide for future private and public development. Within this study area, the Future Land Use map pushes industrial uses further east along the railroad, making way for growth in the urban fabric of commercial, office and medium-high density residential uses. Durham’s planning department is working with communities to create Compact Neighborhood Tiers each of the proposed light rail stops, including the final stop at Alston Avenue in East Durham. For the study area, that means an even stronger push for a dense, walkable, form-based urban fabric to slowly take over the industrial uses along the railroad. This project’s site plan proposes the land-banking of several parcels along the railroad for future development as local economic-development and job-training centers and as public open space. These parcels have been identified based on factors such as the need for environmental remediation, current vacancy, cost, and potentially catalytic location. Running through the center of the site plan — and in the long-term, continuing to downtown Durham and to Research Triangle Park — is a proposed rail-with-trail greenway for pedestrians and bicyclists. The rail-with-trail movement is growing and has been shown to increase railroad-crossing safety while taking advantage of existing right-of-ways to create valuable green space in already-developed corridors. Between light rail construction and Durham’s steady growth and gentrification, East Durham faces inevitable shifts in its neighborhood form. With the land-banking model, this project could allow for community input and buy-in for the future use of long-forgotten parcels — parcels that could be re-deployed to boost local quality of life and economic development.
CONTEXT MAP
S AL
STO N AV
E
Downtown Durham
AN GIE R
NC
NC
DRIVER ST
E MAIN ST
AV E
RR
-14 7
Durham Tech NCCU
HISTORIC GROWTH Northeast Central Durham Hayti
NCCU
Durham Tech
1913
1960
Northeast Central Durham
NCCU
Durham Tech
1972
EXISTING CONDITIONS
CURRENT ZONING Urban Residential Urban Residential — Multi-Family Office Commercial Industrial Park
D
O O H R
O B H IG
E
N T C MPA
CO
proposed light rail stop
FUTURE LAND USE Design District Medium Density Residential Medium-High Density Residential Office Commercial Industrial Park
ENVIRONMENTAL DATA Air — Emission / Toxic Release Water — Pollutant Discharge / Toxic Release Land — Hazardous Waste / Toxic Release Superfund Site Brownfield Site
PARCEL COST $0 - $19,999 $20,000 - $99,999 $100,000 - $499,999 $500,000 - $999,999 $1,000,000 +
VACANT LOTS Vacant
FUTURE LAND USE Compact Neighborhood Tier Industrial
PARCEL ANALYSIS
SITE PLAN East Durham neigborhood access park for light rail stop
B’
land-bank parcels for local economic development and open space
B
Research Triangle Park
A’
watertower park: re-use of publicly owned vacant land proposed light rail stop
rail-with-trail greenway
A
downtown Durham
1”=400’
pedestrian bridge
public park converted from vacant brownfield parcels
SEC TION A 1”=20’
A’
A pedestrian bridge
railroad tracks
rail-with-trail greenway
Pettigrew Street
public park converted from vacant brownfield lots
SEC TION B 1”=10’
ALSTON AVE.
LIGHT RAIL STOP
B’
B railroad bridge
Alston Avenue
wayfinding
accessible path to light rail stop
park space
wayfinding