Report: Durham Station to have grand opening Feb. 23

While work continues on W. Chapel Hill St. to prepare it for the weight of the buses that will be pulling into the new Durham Station, final touches are going up on the nearly $18 million multimodal station near American Tobacco.

That includes signage, which has a modern, almost European feel noting the place where DATA, Triangle Transit, and Greyhound buses -- along with taxi services -- will roost.

And while there's been no official announcement, a BCR source has informed us that Durham Station will officially open on Monday, Feb. 23 at 11:00 am -- just a couple of short weeks from now.

The GoTriangle web site reports that DATA service will actually start up out of the new station on Sunday, Feb. 22 -- a logical move to relocate bus service on the lightest day of scheduled service.

It'll be a marked improvement over the tired structure on the downtown loop, and a location that will eventually play extra dividends should a light rail or commuter rail system ever come to the Bull City.

Comments

[Will]

I never thought I'd be this excited about a transit station - especially since I don't ride a bus. But it is great facility. I noticed the signage on Wednesday and was super impressed!

[Mark]

Just curious if there are bike racks there? That would be truly multi-modal.

[Freddie]

Good question Mark...

I think the place looks great! What's going to happen to the old spot though?? Hopefully they can turn that around and make into something nice as well!

[Matt]

Like a Brew Thru or something similar...that would be really cool! ;)

[TSQ75]

Any word on a new Amtrak location?

[Rob]

TSQ75- My understanding is that the bid for the two contracts have already been assigned. The first was for the interior of the station, which should be about done by now. The 2nd one is for the actual platform, and work was supposed to start right at the first of the year. I don't know how long the work was supposed to take...

[Todd]

How did Durham Station end up on the Federal Stimulus wishlist? Is it not already 99% paid for?

Here is Durham's full Stimulus wishlist - $105 million in all - for parks, trails, Parrish St museum, neighborhood streetscapes ($25 million), street paving, culverts, city facilities, curb ramps, and something called a "floating wetland":

http://www.usmayors.org/mainstreeteconomicrecovery/stimulussurveyparticipantsdata.asp?City=Durham&State=NC

No bus shelters, no sidewalks, no schools.

[Kevin Davis]

@Todd:

1) The Durham Station listing isn't for the bus station itself, but for the public-private partnership for development on the southern side of the site. Originally the multimodal station was going to be larger with room for on-site retail, but when costs were too high, the city pulled back those elements and decided to put them in a separate private development.

The City issued an RFP on the site for the partnership a couple of years back; I don't know what the outcome of this is, have been meaning to ask Joy Mickle. More about this at http://www.bullcityrising.com/2007/11/durham-station-.html.

2) The list that you've given from the Conference of Mayors only includes city (not county) projects so schools wouldn't be on the list. There is a bit of money on the list for sidewalks, but nothing for bus shelters. Durham in total put in for $270m of stimulus bucks, including $20m for school construction. We covered this back in December -- though with as quickly as the stimulus stuff is changing, I would put an asterisk that the 12/23 report could be out of date. http://www.bullcityrising.com/2008/12/more-on-city-county-infrastructure-wishlist.html

BCR reader Erik has some photos of the Amtrak station at West Village under construction: http://picasaweb.google.com/erik.landfried/Durham_Station#

[Will]

I just checked out Erik's photos. It's a great building but I have to ask...what exactly is a "KISS AND RIDE"? My guess it that it is a drop off point for people getting a ride to the station in cars but REALLY??!?? Is that a term I've just never heard of before or did we think of that ourselves?

[Todd]

Thanks Kevin - I had forgotten that earlier discussion. Is there a list somewhere of the specific projects the County put forth?

[eah919]

@ Will- 'Kiss and Ride', although strange to my ears, is a relatively common term used to distinguish 'drop-off' traffic from 'park and ride' traffic. I know from personal experience that the term is used at stations in both the DC Metro and the Atlanta MARTA systems, and has been for years.

[GreenLantern]

Does anyone know if the pedestrian bridge from the Amtrak platform to the transit center still a go?

[Erik]

I don't think so - I'm pretty sure that was dependant on a regional rail system. If and when that happens, my guess is that it will probably be revisited.

When I was out there on Saturday it looked like they were putting finishing touches on a new (and much needed) pedestrian signal across Chapel Hill St at Pettigrew St. Cutting across the old tracks and parking lot at Walker Warehouse, it was still a quick walk from Durham Station to the new Amtrak platform.

What I'm curious about is why there is no crosswalk across Great Jones St at the Chapel Hill St intersection - at least one curb cut is there and the traffic island was re-paved recently. It's like there never got around to putting in a crosswalk. And there is a Yield sign for vehicles turning right onto Chapel Hill St, so that traffic pattern would have to change. Anyone know?

[Dale McKeel]

Bicycle racks have been installed at Durham Station.

In a few months the City also plans to install bicycle lockers at Durham Station.