Midtown Raleigh is a rapidly emerging district that serves as an example of a suburban place retrofitted and redeveloped with plans to create a walkable urban center with less dependence on vehicles. The Midtown-St. Albans Area Plan identified specific improvements and policies to guide future investment and development in this area, which has seen rapid and significant change over the past decade. VHB led the corridor planning study effort for the project with a focus on multimodal transportation, land use, redevelopment, urban design, and public participation and outreach.
VHB developed a set of land use and transportation and traffic solutions for the corridor and created a supporting package of integrated land use and urban design strategies and policies intended to balance economic vitality with community stability. The final report for the area plan summarized the study’s assumptions, methodologies, findings, and recommendations.
In addition, VHB deployed a comprehensive public engagement process that included regular interaction and feedback with the community, a citizen advisory group, and municipal staff. This included six large open houses, multiple advisory committee meetings, presentations to elected officials, support for smaller community pop-ups with bilingual staff, community-wide online surveys, and community-driven project prioritization. VHB partnered with the city to clearly communicate the project’s background, updates, and next steps to community members and invited feedback.
