Raleigh Union Station - Community Brief Regarding West St. Extension
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The Raleigh City Council has asked the Passenger Rail Task force to make recommendations on a number of critical issues regarding the proposed Raleigh Union Station. One of these issues involves a controversial extension of West Street through a tunnel under the railroad tracks, and through the newly renovated homes on Saunders Street.
The justification for the potential demolition of our neighborhood comes in the form of a study generated by an out of state consulting company, which has labeled the option going through our neighborhood, the “preferred option”.
The residents of Rosengarten Park are working to convince city officials of the value in preserving this dynamic urban neighborhood as an important historical landmark and as a unique feature of Raleigh’s downtown core. We believe there are far better alternatives available that acheive the goals of the Union Station plan and city of Raleigh in general.
Specifically, we believe that the study is flawed for the following reasons:
- The technical study set requirements that unnecessarily limited the design criteria for options other then the “preferred option”, falsely skewing the study in that direction.
- The technical study excluded enormous costs that would be specifically associated with the ‘preferred option”, masking the fact that the actual cost would be far greater then the other options considered.
- We also believe that the other options that are available offer a number of important advantages.
