East Campus Wall gets two access points; creates greater connectivity to Ninth Street

Since the very beginning the relationship between Duke University and Durham has been a complex one, mostly friendly, but sometimes fraught with disagreement and, particularly in the late 80's and early 90's, strained by Durham's rising crime rate. I have often heard long-term residents joke that stone wall ("the Wall") that runs along the perimeter of the East Campus is the physical manifestation of Duke's reluctance to engage with a wider Durham community, and that the University was literally trying to wall itself from the city and regretted not making the wall a bit taller

Photo by Bryan Roth.

This new entrance to East Campus was constructed by the Buchanan Boulevard-Main Street intersection. Duke is adding two entrances for pedestrian traffic. Photo by Bryan Roth.

But this was all in the past. Since early 00's, Duke has emerged as the principal force behind the wholesale reinvention of Durham as a vibrant, diverse, and tolerant place to live and work. And nowhere is this relationship obvious than the widespread popularity of the East Campus Walk,  the 1.5 mile gravel pathway circling the Wall, which has become a magnet for joggers, strollers and walkers. Far from walling itself from the community, Duke's wall and the pathway that runs alongside of it, morphed into a public space.

Until relatively recently, however,  the access to the walkway was constrained by the lack of pedestrian access from Broad and Main streets. The University recently changed that when, taking advantage of the Water Main repair work on Main Street, it added two additional entrances  -- the first changes to the wall in over 30 years -- one at the intersection of Main and Broad Streets, and the other on Main and Buchanan Street. In addition to the existing entrance off Broad and Perry Streets, the West side of the East Campus is far better integrated into the Ninth Street  Shopping District.

While this is indisputably a very positive development, Duke and the City have additional work to do before the East Campus can be said to be truly integrated into its surrounding communities. The most obvious and lacking issue is the lack of sidewalks on the outside of the wall across large portions of Board Street, the entire length of W. Markham Avenue. The need to have such a sidewalk is obvious, as evidenced by a clear walking trail created by students and residents, as they navigate mud, grass, roots, stones and other obstacles.Here is to hoping that it will take Duke less than 30 years to recognize this need and build such a sidewalk.

Read the Duke Today article about the new enterances after the break.

Can the West Main Bridge be replaced overnight?

As I have previously covered, the NCDOT and the City are planning on replacing the bridge that carries W. Main street over campus drive sometime next year. The original plan called for a year-long closure of the street but was later scaled down to six months following a neighborhood outcry. The City and the DOT celebrated the new accelerated schedule, touting is a win-win solution for the neighborhood and the city. And it is - considering that the other solution would have entailed a year-long closure of a major city street, choking traffic to both Ninth Street and Bright Leaf District.

So imagine my surprise when I read in the New York Times article (reprinted below) that the new technology used in Massachusetts allows small bridge replacements overnight. That's right - instead of six months, a prefabricated bridge very similar to the one over campus drive was replaced overnight with minimal disruption to traffic and surrounding communities. And it is not an astronomically more expensive way to do things, apparently, simply a different technology that could be just as cost-effective as the conventional method.

Current Campus Bridge

Overnight bridge replacement in Boston

Read more about this new insta-bridge technique after the break.

Bridge Construction over Main Street Delayed

As I have covered in previous posts, the area near the intersection of Main and Broad streets will be seeing a lot of construction soon: the water main replacement, repaving of Main Street (which will include adding bike lanes, finally), and the wholesale replacement of the section of Main Street that goes over Campus Drive, which connects Duke's East Campus to the rest of the university.

Soon-to-be replaced Campus Dr. Bridge

Today's Herald Sun reports that the bridge replacement has been pushed back almost a year and -- in even better news -- is now expected to last six months rather than twelve. This is unquestionably good news for then neighborhood, as it would minimize the ongoing disruption to the whole community without compromising infrastructure improvements that will need to be made.Read the whole article after the break.

More information on water main replacement

The city of Durham has posted additional information, including FAQs and a map (reprinted below), on the water main replacement that will be taking place along Ninth Street and West Main Street corridors. It looks like there will be significant disruptions along both streets but the work should be wrapped up by the end of the summer, at which point the DOT will close the W. Main to begin construction on the new bridge over Campus Drive.

Trinity Lounge - now under new management

View Larger Map

Trinity Lounge, a self-described "Durham's newest and most sophisticated private club," has reopened its doors on November 1st after undergoing some renovations both inside and out and dropping its previous moniker "Siren's Lounge." (Google view is still showing the old sign). According to its website and facebook page, Trinity Lounge's core business is various fraternity and sorority events organized by Duke student groups on weekends; during the week it functions as a martini bar, with daily specials, including Mondays.  In its previous iteration, Siren's Lounge has gone steadily downhill from its promising beginnings as a favorite nightclub hangout for Duke students unwilling to travel to Chapel Hill , to a poorly managed and maintained dive, whose owner one reviewer described as "being extremely rude" and "highly intoxicated." Now that the bar is under new management, the reviews have been fare more positive, with reviewers describing it as a "neighborhood pub with a brand new twist" and "a cozy place with a very personable staff."

Main Street over Campus Drive to Close

The N.C. Department of Transportation wants the road closed sometime next year so it can replace a bridge that carries Main Street over Campus Drive.

The project could make the section of Main from Buchanan Boulevard west to Swift Avenue off-limits to car, truck and bus traffic, officials said during a City Council work session on Thursday.

Read more: The Herald-Sun - To replace bridge DOT seeks Main Street closure