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Raleigh, North Carolina

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Raleigh (pronounced raw-lee or rah-lee) is the capital of the State of North Carolina and the county seat of Wake County, USA. Raleigh is known as the “City of Oaks” for its many oak trees. It is the second most populous city in North Carolina (after Charlotte). The estimated population on January 1, 2008 was 374,320. Raleigh is the 15th fastest growing city in the United States. In February of 2008, the News & Observer, the major news daily of the region, reported that Raleigh's population had surpassed that of Minneapolis to become the 49th largest city in the U.S. In 2006-07, Raleigh's population surpassed those of Tampa, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and St. Louis.

Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill make up the three historically primary cities of the Research Triangle metropolitan region. The regional name originated after the 1959 creation of the Research Triangle Park, located midway between the cities of Raleigh and Durham. The Research Triangle region encompasses the U.S. Census Bureau's Combined Statistical Area (CSA) of Raleigh-Durham-Cary in the central Piedmont. The estimated population of the Raleigh-Durham-Cary CSA was 1,635,974 as of July 1, 2007, with the Raleigh-Cary Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) portion estimated at 994,551 residents.

While almost all of Raleigh is located within Wake County, a small portion of the city extends into neighboring Durham County. The towns of Cary, Garner, Wake Forest, Apex, Holly Springs, Clayton, and Knightdale are some of Raleigh's primary nearby suburbs.

In 2008, Forbes magazine named Raleigh no. 1 out of the "Top 200 Best Places For Business And Careers."

History

18th century

In December 1770, Joel Lane petitioned the North Carolina General Assembly to create a new county. A month later, the bill authorizing the formation of Wake County passed. The county was formed from portions of Cumberland, Orange and Johnston counties and named after Margaret Wake Tryon, the wife of Governor William Tryon. The first county seat was Bloomsbury.

Raleigh was chosen as the site of a new state capital in 1788, and it was officially established in 1792 as both the new county seat and the new state capital. The city was named in November 1792 for Sir Walter Raleigh, sponsor of the Colony of Roanoke, the "Lost Colony," commemorated at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site on Roanoke Island, North Carolina.

The city's location was chosen, in part, for being within ten miles (16 km) of Isaac Hunter's Tavern, which was known to be popular with the state legislators of the time. No known city or town had existed on the site before it was chosen as the capital. Raleigh is among the few cities in the United States that was planned and built specifically to serve as a state capital. Its original boundaries were formed by North, East, West and South streets.

The North Carolina General Assembly first met in Raleigh in December 1794, and within one month, the legislators officially granted the city a charter, with a board of seven appointed commissioners (elected by the city after 1803) and an "Intendant of Police" (which would eventually become the office of Mayor) to govern it. In 1799, the N.C. Minerva and Raleigh Advertiser became the first newspaper published in Raleigh. John Haywood was the first Intendant of Police.

19th century

In 1808 Andrew Johnson, the nation’s seventeenth President, was born at Casso’s Inn (since moved to the Mordecai Square Historic Park) located between Morgan, Fayetteville and Wilmington streets. His father, Jacob Johnson, was a porter at the State Bank of North Carolina, the oldest surviving commercial building in Raleigh. The city's first water supply network was completed in 1818, although due to system failures the project was abandoned. The next year saw the arrival of Raleigh's first volunteer fire company and in 1821 a full-time fire company was formed. On June 23, 1831 a fire destroyed the State Capitol. Reconstruction began two years later with quarried granite being delivered by the first railroad in the state. Raleigh celebrated the completions of the new Capitol and new Raleigh & Gaston Railroad Company in 1840. In 1853, the first State Fair was organized by the North Carolina Agricultural Society and held at a site east of Raleigh. The first institution of higher learning in Raleigh, Peace College, was established in 1858. The Peace College Main Building was used as a military hospital during the Civil War. After the War began, Governor Zebulon Baird Vance ordered the construction of breastworks around the city as protection from Union troops. During General Sherman's Carolinas Campaign, Raleigh was captured by Union cavalry under the command of General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick on April 13, 1865. After the Confederate calvary retreated west to move their wounded soldiers and remaining supplies, the Union soldiers followed, leading to the Battle of Morrisville. The city was spared significant destruction during the War, but due to the economic problems of the post-war period and Reconstruction, it grew little over the next several decades.

With emancipation after the war, African-Americans in Raleigh were able to be educated and became involved in local politics. With the help of the Freedmen's Bureau, whose regional offices were housed at Peace College's Main Building, many freedmen migrated from rural areas to Raleigh to have a chance at city opportunities and live in a community. Shaw University, began classes in 1865, making it the first historically black college established in the South. Located in the East Raleigh-South Park Historic District, it was chartered in 1875. Shaw's Estey Hall was the first building constructed for the higher education of black women. Established in 1881, Leonard Medical Center of Shaw University was the first four-year medical school in the country for African-Americans, as well the first four-year medical school in North Carolina. With the government and educational institutions, a substantial black professonal class began to develop in the city.

In 1867, Episcopal clergy founded St. Augustine's College for the education of freedmen. In 1869 the Reconstruction state legislature approved setting up the nation’s first school for blind and deaf African Americans, which opened in Raleigh.

In 1868 Governor William Woods Holden appointed new Raleigh Commissioners, including the first African Americans who served in that position: James Henry Harris, editor of the North Carolina Republican and Handy Lockhart. Black professionals began to build homes in the area, then known as the Third Ward. The Pope House, built by Dr. Pope, is one of the few remaining examples of these homes. St. Paul A.M.E. Church, built in 1884, was the first independent congregation of African Americans in Raleigh. It is the oldest black church in Wake County.

In 1874, the first Federal Government project in the South following the Civil War was the Federal Building constructed in downtown Raleigh. In 1880, the News and Observer combined to form The News & Observer. During the 1880s, Fayetteville Street was paved, land was donated for Pullen Park, and the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce was formed.

Additional educational institutions were added in the late 19th century, helping build the middle class in Raleigh. The North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now known as North Carolina State University) was founded in 1887 as a land-grant college. In 1894, Rex Hospital opened, with a nursing school that was the first in the state. Baptist Female University (now known as Meredith College) opened in 1891.

As a sign of its self-promotion, in 1899 Raleigh adopted a city flag. The city flag was created as a reciprocal gift to the USS Raleigh, after the crew of the cruiser presented the city with a small cannon captured during the Spanish-American War. The cannon now sits on the front lawn of the Fire Department’s Keeter Training Center. Raleigh residents flocked to see another sign of progress with construction of the city's first skyscraper, the Tucker Building.

In 1900 the white-dominated state legislature followed the example of other Southern states and passed a new constitution, with provisions for voter registration that effectively disfranchised most blacks and many poor whites. Added to earlier statutory restrictions, the state succeeded in reducing black voting to zero by 1908. Among the numerous ill effects was that after a decade of white supremacy, whites lost memory of and appreciation for the thriving black middle class that was developing in cities such as Raleigh. It was not until 1965 that most blacks in North Carolina would again be able to vote, sit on juries and serve in local offices.

20th century

In 1912, Bloomsbury Park opened with the now historic carousel being the most popular ride. The next year Raleigh citizens adopted the commission form of government. During the World War I time period, an influenza epidemic killed 288 citizens in Raleigh and the state lost a total of 5,799 men in the War, the third highest in the nation.

In 1922, WLAC signed on from then-N.C. State College (now N.C. State University) as the city's first radio station, though it left the air two years later. WFBQ signed on in 1924, became WPTF in 1927 and is Raleigh's oldest continuous radio broadcaster.

Curtiss-Wright Flying Field opened in 1929, making it the first airport in the city. That same year, the stock market crash that led to the Great Depression resulted in six Raleigh banks closing.

During the difficult 1930s, the city provided recreational and educational programs, and hired people for public works projects. In 1932, Raleigh Memorial Auditorium was dedicated. The North Carolina Symphony, founded the same year, performed in its new home with Cab Calloway and his orchestra playing at the dedication. The Civilian Conservation Corps constructed the Crabtree Creek Recreational Demonstration area (now known as William B. Umstead State Park) from 1934 to 1937. In 1939 the General Assembly chartered the Raleigh-Durham Aeronautical Authority to build a larger airport to be convenient for both Raleigh and Durham. The result was Raleigh-Durham International Airport, where the first commercial flight took off on May 1, 1943 by Eastern Air Lines.

As a center of government, businesses and colleges, Raleigh had long had an educated and politically sophisticated black middle class. Despite state constitutional provisions that had disfranchised most black voters since the early 1900s, the Negro Voters League was formed in 1931 to promote black voter registration; by 1946 they had succeeded in getting 7,000 black voters in the city registered. In 1947, Raleigh citizens adopted a council-manager form of government, the current form.

Although located a few hours from the coast, Raleigh still experienced significant damage from Hurricane Hazel in 1954. Two years later, WRAL-TV became the first local television station. With the opening of the Research Triangle Park in 1957, Raleigh began to experience a faster population increase and by the end of the decade the population was reaching 100,000.

As the Raleigh City Museum states:

No other national event impacted Raleigh more profoundly than the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and '60s. After years of Jim Crow rule in the South, local students and activists - through marches, lunch counter sit-ins and public protests - helped give rise to fundamental social change as new laws were enacted to protect the rights of all citizens.

Following passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, political participation and voting by African Americans increased rapidly. In 1967 Clarence E. Lightner, a well-regarded community leader, was elected to the City Council. In October 1973 Lightner was elected Raleigh’s first mayor by popular vote. He was also the first African American elected mayor of a southern state capital, and the first African American elected mayor by an electorate that was predominantly white (84 percent of the population.)

After 10 years of discussions, the Raleigh City and Wake County schools merged in 1976 to become the Wake County Public School System, now the largest school system in the state and 19th largest in the country. Population increases led to highway construction to try to improve traffic flow. During the 1970s and 1980s, the I-440 beltline was constructed, easing traffic congestion and providing access to most major roads throughout the city. The first Raleigh Convention Center (replaced in 2008) and Fayetteville Street Mall were both opened in 1977. Fayetteville Street was turned into a pedestrian-only street to try to spur business growth, but the plan was flawed and business declined.

In 1991 the two largest skyscrapers in Raleigh were completed, First Union Capital Center and Two Hanover Plaza. In addition, the Walnut Creek Amphitheatre opened and First Night Raleigh, an annual New Year's Eve celebration, was first celebrated. Two years later, the city suffered a major drought that resulted in Falls Lake, the primary source of water for Raleigh, to reach its all-time low. In 1996, the Olympic Torch spent the night in Raleigh while on its way to the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia and was welcomed with a large celebration. That same year, Hurricane Fran struck the area, causing massive flooding and structural damage. In 1999, The RBC Center arena opened in to provide a venue for the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes and NC State Wolfpack men's basketball team.

21st century

Raleigh started out the new millennium with a storm that dropped 25.7 inches of snow, the largest snowfall in the city's recorded history. In 2001, the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium complex was expanded with the addition of the BTI Center for the Performing Arts, Meymandi Concert Hall, Fletcher Opera Theater, Kennedy Theatre, Betty Ray McCain Gallery and Lichtin Plaza. Fayetteville Street was reopened to vehicular traffic in 2006, and the main street was also developed with the 34-story RBC Bank Tower, multiple condo projects and several new restaurants. Additional skyscrapers are in the planning phase. In 2008, the Fayetteville Street Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

During the first eight years of the new decade, Raleigh's population grew by 100,000 people (35%), causing increased traffic problems and school shortages. With the opening of parts of I-540, a new 70-mile loop around Wake County, traffic congestion was eased, although the complete loop will not be finished for at least another 15 years. To address the school shortage, many public schools were switched to year-round schedules and temporary buildings were constructed to accommodate the nearly 7,000 new public school students enrolling each year.

Law and government

Raleigh operates under a council-manager government. The city council consists of eight members; all seats, including the mayor's, are open for election every two years. Five of the council seats are district representatives and two seats are citywide representatives elected at-large. Historically, Raleigh voters have tended to elect conservative Democrats in local, state, and national elections, a holdover from their one-party system of the late 19th century.

City Council

  • Charles Meeker Mayor
  • Nancy McFarlane (District A, north-central Raleigh)
  • Rodger Koopman (District B, northeast Raleigh)
  • James West (District C, mayor pro tem, southeast Raleigh)
  • Thomas Crowder (District D, southwest Raleigh)
  • Philip Isley (District E, west and northwest Raleigh)
  • Russ Stephenson (at-large)
  • Mary-Ann Baldwin (at-large)

Crime

In 2007, 22 murders or non-negligent cases of manslaughter were reported within Raleigh's city limits, per the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports.

Mayor Charles Meeker is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, a bi-partisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The coalition is co-chaired by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Raleigh averages a rate of 469.2 motor vehicle thefts per year per 100,000 residents, below the average rate of 528.4 motor vehicle thefts per year per 100,000 residents for all metropolitan areas in North Carolina.

According to the Uniform Crime Reports, crime in Raleigh has steadily decreased in recent years. In 2004, there were 580 reported incidents of violent crime and 3,768 reported incidents of property crime reported per 100,000 population. Nationally there were 466 violent crimes and 3,517 property crimes reported per 100,000 population, while U.S. cities with a population between 250,000 and 500,000 residents reported 978 violent crimes and 5,631 property crimes per 100,000 population, all well above Raleigh's reported rate.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, Raleigh occupies a total area of 115.6 square miles (299.3 km²), of which 114.6 square miles (296.8 km²) is dry land and 1.0 square miles (2.5 km²)(0.84%) is covered by water.

Raleigh is located in the northeast central region of North Carolina, where the North American Piedmont and Atlantic Coastal Plain regions meet. This area is known as the "fall line" because it marks the elevation inland at which waterfalls begin to appear in creeks and rivers. As a result, most of Raleigh features gently rolling hills that slope eastward toward the state's flat coastal plain. Its central Piedmont location situates Raleigh about three hours west of Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, by car and four hours east of the Great Smoky Mountains of the Appalachian range. The city is south of Richmond, Virginia; south of Washington, D.C.; and northeast of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Climate

Raleigh enjoys a temperate subtropical climate, with moderate temperatures in spring, autumn, and winter. Summers are typically hot with high humidity. Winter highs generally range in the low 50s°F (10 to 13°C) with lows in the low-to-mid 30s°F (-2 to 2°C), although an occasional 60°F (15°C) or warmer winter day is not uncommon. Spring and autumn days usually reach the low-to-mid 70s°F (low 20s°C), with lows at night in the lower 50s°F (10 to 14°C). Summer daytime highs often reach the upper 80s to low 90s°F (29 to 35°C). The region's rainiest months are July and August.

Raleigh receives an average of 4.6" of snow in winter. Freezing rain and sleet also occur most winters, and occasionally the area experiences a major damaging ice storm. The region may also suffer from occasional droughts, during which the city sometimes has restricted water use for residents.

Cityscape

Raleigh is divided into seven major geographic areas, each of which use a Raleigh address and a ZIP code that begins with the digits 276.

Old Raleigh ("Inside the Beltline") is home to historic neighborhoods and buildings such as the Sir Walter Raleigh Hotel built in the early 20th century, the restored City Market, the Fayetteville Street downtown business district, as well as the North Carolina Museum of History, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, North Carolina State Capitol, Peace College, the Raleigh City Museum, Raleigh Convention Center, Shaw University, and Saint Augustine's College. The neighborhoods in Old Raleigh include Cameron Park, Boylan Heights, Country Club Hills, Coley Forest, Five Points, Glenwood-Brooklyn, Hayes Barton, Moore Square, Mordecai, Belvidere Park, Woodcrest, and Oakwood.

East Raleigh is situated roughly from Capital Boulevard near the I-440 beltline to New Hope Road. Most of East Raleigh's development is along primary corridors such as U.S. Route 1 (Capital Boulevard), New Bern Avenue, Poole Road, Buffaloe Road, and New Hope Road. Neighborhoods in East Raleigh include Brentwood, New Hope, and Wilder's Grove. The area is bordered to the east by the suburban town of Knightdale.

West Raleigh lies along Hillsborough Street and Western Boulevard. The area is bordered to the west by suburban Cary. It is home to North Carolina State University, Meredith College, Pullen Park, Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, Cameron Village, Lake Johnson, the North Carolina Museum of Art and historic Saint Mary's School. Primary thoroughfares serving West Raleigh, in addition to Hillsborough Street, are Avent Ferry Road, Blue Ridge Road, and Western Boulevard.

North Raleigh is an expansive, diverse, and fast-growing suburban area of the city that is home to a large number of established neighborhoods to the south along with many newly built subdivisions and exurbs along its northern fringes. The area generally falls North of Millbrook Road. It is primarily suburban with numerous large shopping areas. Primary neighborhoods and subdivisions in North Raleigh include Bedford, Bent Tree, Brookhaven, Crossgate, Falls River, North Ridge, Stonebridge, Stone Creek, Stonehenge, Wakefield, Windsor Forest, and Wood Valley. The area is served by numerous primary transportation corridors including Glenwood Avenue (U.S. Route 70), Wake Forest Road, Millbrook Road, Lynn Road, Six Forks Road, Spring Forest Road, Creedmoor Road, Leesville Road, and Strickland Road, as well as the Interstate-540 Northern Wake Expressway.

Midtown Raleigh, which used to be considered a part of North Raleigh, lies just to North of the I-440 Beltline. It is framed by Lead Mine Road on the West, Wake Forest Road on the East, and Millbrook Road to the North. It includes the recently renovated North Hills Mall and the Crabtree Valley Mall. With the growth of Raleigh in the last 10 years, Midtown is now a centrally-located part of the city.

South Raleigh is located along U.S. 401 South toward Fuquay-Varina and along US 70 into suburban Garner. This area is the least developed and least dense area of Raleigh (much of the area lies within the Swift Creek watershed district, where development regulations limit housing densities and construction), South Raleigh is home to the only remaining gristmill in Wake County, the historic Yates Mill. The area is bordered to the west by Cary, to the east by Garner, and to the southwest by Holly Springs. Neighborhoods in South Raleigh include Lake Wheeler, Swift Creek, Riverbrooke, and Enchanted Oaks.

Southeast Raleigh is bounded by downtown on the west, Garner on the southwest, and rural Wake County to the southeast. The area includes areas along Rock Quarry Road, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and New Bern Avenue. This area is very diverse, with new suburban developments to poor inner-city neighborhoods. Many of the older neighborhoods are historically African American and date back to the end of the Civil War. Primary neighborhoods include Chavis Heights, Raleigh Country Club, Southgate, and Biltmore Hills. Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion (formerly Alltel Pavilion and Walnut Creek Amphitheatre) is one of the region's major outdoor concert venues and is located on Rock Quarry Road.

Economy

Raleigh's industrial base includes electrical, medical, electronic and telecommunications equipment; clothing and apparel; food processing; paper products; and pharmaceuticals. Raleigh is part of North Carolina's Research Triangle, one of the country's largest and most successful research parks and a major center in the United States for high-tech and biotech research, as well as advanced textile development. The city is a major retail shipping point for eastern North Carolina and a wholesale distributing point for the grocery industry.

These companies are based in Raleigh or have significant facilities and operations in the city:

Demographics

Historical populations
Census
year 		Population
1800 699
1900 13,643
1910 19,218
1920 24,418
1930 37,379
1940 46,879
1950 65,679
1960 93,931
1970 122,830
1980 150,255
1990 212,092
2000 276,093
2007 374,320

As of the 2000 United States census, there were 276,093 persons and 61,371 families residing in Raleigh. The population density was 2,409.2 people per square mile (930.2/km²). There were 120,699 housing units at an average density of 1,053.2/sq mi (406.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 63.31% White, 27.80% African American, 0.36% Native American, 3.38% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 3.24% of other races, and 1.88% of two or more races. Residents who described themselves as Hispanic or Latino of any race represented 7.01% of the population.

There were 112,608 households in the city in 2000, of which 26.5% included children below the age of 18, 39.5% were composed of married couples living together, 11.4% reported a female householder with no husband present, and 45.5% classified themselves as nonfamily. In addition, 33.1% of all households were composed of individuals living alone, of which 6.2% was someone 65 years of age or older. The average household size in Raleigh was 2.30 persons, and the average family size was 2.97 persons.

Age-wise, Raleigh's population in 2000 was evenly distributed with 20.9% below the age of 18, 15.9% aged 18 to 24, 36.6% from 25 to 44, and 18.4% from 45 to 64. An estimated 8.3% of the population was 65 years of age or older, and the median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.0 males; for every 100 females aged 18 or older, there were 96.6 males aged 18 or older.

The median household income in the city was $46,612 in 2000, and the median family income was $60,003. Males earned a median income of $39,248, versus $30,656 for females. The median per-capita income for the city was $25,113, and an estimated 11.5% of the population and 7.1% of families were living below the poverty line. Of the total population, 13.8% of those below the age of 18, and 9.3% of those 65 and older, were living below the poverty line.

Education

Higher education

Public

Private

In addition, the Campbell University Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law has announced that it will move to downtown Raleigh from the nearby town of Buies Creek by 2009.

Private, for profit

Primary and secondary education

Public schools

Public schools in Raleigh are operated by the Wake County Public School System. Observers have praised the Wake County Public School System for its innovative efforts to maintain a socially, economically and racial balanced system by using income as a prime factor in assigning students to schools.

Charter schools

The State of North Carolina provides for a legislated number of charter schools. These schools are administered independently of the Wake County Public School System. Raleigh is currently home to nine such charter schools:

Private and religion-based schools

 

Cultural resources

Museums

Performing arts

The Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek hosts major international touring acts. The Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts complex houses the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, the Fletcher Opera Theater, the Kennedy Theatre, and the Meymandi Concert Hall. During the North Carolina State Fair, Dorton Arena hosts headline acts. Theater performances are also offered at the Raleigh Little Theatre, Long View Center, Theatre In The Park, and Stewart Theater at North Carolina State University.

Raleigh is home to several professional arts organizations, including the North Carolina Symphony, the Opera Company of North Carolina, the North Carolina Theatre, Broadway Series South and the Carolina Ballet. The numerous local colleges and universities significantly add to the options available for viewing live performances.

Visual arts

North Carolina Museum of Art, occupying a large suburban campus on Blue Ridge Road near the North Carolina State Fairgrounds, maintains one of the premier public art collections located between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. In addition to its extensive collections of American Art, European Art and ancient art, the museum recently has hosted major exhibitions featuring Auguste Rodin (in 2000) and Claude Monet (in 2006-07), each attracting more than 200,000 visitors. Unlike most prominent public museums, the North Carolina Museum of Art acquired a large number of the works in its permanent collection through purchases with public funds. The museum's outdoor park is one of the largest such art parks in the country. The museum facility is currently undergoing a major expansion, scheduled for completion in 2008.

Sports and leisure

Professional

The National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes franchise moved to Raleigh in 1997 from Hartford, Connecticut (where it was known as the Hartford Whalers). The team played its first two seasons in the nearby city of Greensboro, while its home arena, Raleigh's RBC Center was under construction. The Hurricanes are the only major league (NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB) professional sports team in North Carolina to have won a championship, winning the Stanley Cup in 2006, over the Edmonton Oilers.

In addition to the Hurricanes, the Carolina Railhawks of the United Soccer Leagues play in suburban Cary to the west; the Carolina Mudcats, a AA minor league baseball team, play in the city's eastern suburbs; and the Durham Bulls, the AAA minor league baseball team made internationally famous by the movie Bull Durham, play in the neighboring city of Durham.

Several other professional sports leagues have had former franchises (now defunct) in Raleigh, including the Arena Football League; the World League of American Football; the Raleigh Cougars of the United States Basketball League; and most recently, the Carolina Courage of the Women's United Soccer Association (in suburban Cary), which won that league's championship Founders Cup in 2002.

The Research Triangle region has hosted the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) Nationwide Tour Rex Hospital Open since 1994, with the current location of play at Raleigh's Wakefield Plantation.

Amateur

The North Carolina Tigers, an Australian Rules football club in the United States Australian Football League (USAFL) and competing in the Eastern Australian Football League (EAFL), are based in Raleigh.

Raleigh is also home to the Carolina Rollergirls, an all-women flat-track roller derby team that is a competing member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). The Carolina Rollergirls compete at Dorton Arena at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds.

In addition, the Carolina ANZACs cricket and social group is based in the Raleigh area and participates in tournaments throughout the country as part of the Mid Atlantic Cricket Conference, a member league of the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA).

Recreation

The Raleigh Parks and Recreation Department offers a wide variety of leisure opportunities at more than 150 sites throughout the city, which include: of park land, of greenway, 22 staffed community centers, a BMX championship-caliber race track, 112 tennis courts among 25 locations, 5 public lakes, and 8 public aquatic facilities.

The J. C. Raulston Arboretum, an 8 acre (32,000 m²) arboretum and botanical garden in west Raleigh administered by North Carolina State University, maintains an impressive year-round collection that is open daily to the public without charge.

Transportation

Air

Raleigh-Durham International Airport

Raleigh-Durham International Airport, the region's primary airport and the second-largest in North Carolina, located northwest of downtown Raleigh via Interstate-40 between Raleigh and Durham, serves the city and greater Research Triangle metropolitan region, as well as much of eastern North Carolina. It is a focus airport for American Airlines and a hub for American Eagle Airlines. The airport offers service to more than 45 domestic and international destinations and serves approximately 10 million passengers a year. The airport also offers facilities for general aviation. The airport authority currently is tripling the size of its Terminal C, planned for completion in 2010.

Private airports

Several licensed private general-aviation airports operate in Raleigh's immediate suburban areas:

Heliports

The following licensed heliports serve the Raleigh area:

  • Garner Road Heliport , Raleigh—publicly owned; state government service
  • Sky-5 Heliport , Raleigh—private, owned by WRAL-TV
  • Wake Medical Center Heliport , Raleigh—publicly owned; medical service
  • Western Wake Medical Center Heliport , Cary—publicly owned; medical service

A number of helipads (i.e. marked landing sites not classified under the FAA LID system) also serve a variety of additional medical, private, corporate and governmental interests throughout the area.

Freeways and primary designated routes

Interstate Highways:

  • I-40 traverses the southern part of the city. Connects Raleigh to Durham and Chapel Hill to the west, and Wilmington to the southeast.
  • I-440 Beltline makes a loop around the central part of the city. The I-440 route labeling formerly encompassed the entire loop around the city, co-numbered though south Raleigh with I-40. In 2002, the NCDOT removed the I-440 designation from the co-numbered I-40 (southern and southwestern) sections of the loop, and the directional signage on the remaining I-440 portion was changed from Inner/Outer to East/West. As of 2008, many of the signs slated for updating have yet to be replaced, however. The route designation changes were made to avoid driver confusion over the Inner/Outer designations, especially with Raleigh's new "Outer Loop," as I-540 has become known.
  • I-540/NC 540 is currently under development. It is a partially completed outer beltway that will run around the outer edges of Wake County and into a small portion of southeast Durham county. The route is complete and currently open between the NC 55 interchange in Apex and the US-64/US-264 interchange in Knightdale.United States Highways:
  • U.S. Route 1 enters the city from the north along Capital Boulevard, joins I-440 around the west side of Raleigh, and leaves the city to the southwest as the US 1/US 64 expressway in Cary.
  • U.S. Route 64 is the main east-west route through Raleigh; all segments share routes with another highway. East of the city, US-64/US-264 is known as the Knightdale Bypass. US 64 follows I-440 (as a wrong way concurrency) and I-40 along southern Raleigh, and US 1 to the southwest.
  • U.S. Route 70 runs roughly northwest-southeast through Raleigh. North of downtown, the route follows Glenwood Avenue into Durham. South of Raleigh, the route (along with US 401 and NC 50) follows South Saunders and South Wilmington Streets into Garner. Through downtown, US 70 uses small segments of several streets, including Wade Avenue, Capital Boulevard, Dawson, and McDowell Streets.
  • U.S. Route 264 cosigned with US 64 through East Raleigh.
  • U.S. Route 401 north of downtown Raleigh it follows Capital Boulevard and Louisburg Road. South of downtown it is cosigned with US 70 from Wade Avenue southward.North Carolina Highways:
  • N.C. Route 54 follows Chapel Hill Road and Hillsborough Street in West Raleigh. The route ends at its interchange with I-440.
  • N.C. Route 50 is a north-south route through Raleigh. North of Raleigh it follows Creedmoor Road. NC 50 joins US 70 and later US 401 in downtown Raleigh. The three routes remain together through south Raleigh.
  • N.C. Route 98, known as Durham Road in North Raleigh, traverses the extreme northern parts of the city.

Intercity rail

Amtrak's Carolinian, Piedmont and Silver Star offer daily service between Raleigh and:

See NCDOT ByTrain for more information.

Public transit

Public transportation in and around Raleigh is provided by the CAT, Capital Area Transit (CAT), which operates 37 bus fixed routes and an historic trolley line within the city, and the Triangle Transit Authority (TTA), which offers scheduled, fixed-route regional and commuter bus service between Raleigh and the metropolitan region's other principal cities of Durham, Cary and Chapel Hill (where TTA connects with the respective local urban transit systems), as well as to and from the Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Research Triangle Park and several of the region's larger suburban communities. TTA also coordinates an extensive vanpool and rideshare program that serves the region's larger employers and commute destinations.

Raleigh city planners, in conjunction with other government agencies throughout the metropolitan area, currently are conducting a feasibility study on whether or not to construct a light rail and/or commuter rail system for the Research Triangle region. An attempt was made to gain support for such a proposal earlier in the decade, however in 2006 the TTA announced those plans had been placed on indefinite hold due to a lack of local funds and a recommended denial by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to Congress for matching federal funding. The Special Transit Advisory Commission (STAC) has proposed raising the local sales tax by a half cent to fund the project. The STAC estimates the population of the Triangle region will double in size over the next 20 to 25 years, and that rail transit is among the solutions to the inevitable continued increase in traffic volumes and congestion due to the region's burgeoning population growth and continuing sprawl.

Bicycle and pedestrian

The mountains-to-the-sea North Carolina Bicycle Route 2 travels through the city of Raleigh, as does the Maine-to-Florida U.S. Bicycle Route 1. North Carolina Bicycle Route 5, the Cape Fear run, connects nearby suburban Apex to the coastal city of Wilmington, North Carolina, and closely parallels the route of the Randonneurs USA (RUSA) 600km brevet route. .

Most public buses are equipped with bicycle racks, and some roads have dedicated bicycle-only lanes. Bicyclists and pedestrians also may use Raleigh's extensive greenway system, with paths and trails located throughout the city.

Media

Print

There are several printed newspapers and periodicals that serve the Raleigh market:

  • The News & Observer, a large daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company
  • Independent Weekly, a free weekly newspaper (published in nearby Durham)
  • Carolina Journal, a free monthly newspaper
  • Raleigh Downtowner, a free monthly magazine
  • The Blotter, a free monthly literary journal

Television

Broadcast

Raleigh is part of the Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville Designated Market Area, the 28th largest broadcast television market in the United States. The following stations are licensed to Raleigh and/or have significant operations and viewers in the city:

Subscriber

Raleigh is home to the Research Triangle Region bureau of the regional cable news channel News 14 Carolina.

Internet-only

  • RTP-TV, Research Triangle Park online television (defunct): The Raleigh region hosted North Carolina's first online television station, which broadcasted news and programs of regional interest over the Internet until ceasing operations in 2006.
  • The Raleigh Chronicle, a free locally owned online daily newspaper
  • New Raleigh, a free locally owned online daily news magazine

Broadcast radio

Public and listener-supported

Commercial

Sister cities

Raleigh is twinned with several cities:

Notable Raleighites

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See also

References

External links



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Last updated on Thursday July 24, 2008 at 03:21:48 PDT (GMT -0700)
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