Raleigh resident Nicholas Sailer debuted his project, a fictional map of a subway system for Raleigh called Raleigh City Subway, in August.
Staff writer L’erin Jensen talked with Sailer to discuss the project and Raleigh transportation.
The Daily Tar Heel: What was the process of developing the subway map like?
Nicholas Sailer: I just sort of jumped into it, and I was looking at a lot of Google Maps. I was also looking at a lot of different maps of Raleigh, sort of studying the neighborhoods. Because that’s one of the very distinct things about the New York maps, that these neighborhoods are very well-defined. So, I just started to look at different maps of Raleigh — older maps, newer maps — and just looking at major corridors in Raleigh. I went through a bunch of different iterations. I probably have, I don’t know, 20 different iterations on my computer. When I initially started designing it, I didn’t include the airport, and I immediately realized that’s a big thing that people will need to get to with the subway in Raleigh. A lot of it was guesswork — I’m not a transit designer, I’ve never studied transit the way a lot of people understand it. But I did talk with one of my friends who works for the Department of Transportation, trying to get some insight in that perspective, and bring that in the map as well.
DTH: You said that you went through multiple iterations of this map. How did you settle on the final one?
NS: I felt like this version that I have now is something that addresses a lot of the main areas, main areas of growth. Obviously, there are areas that the metro, the fictional Raleigh metro, doesn’t reach. But in terms of the big centers and main areas where there are shopping areas, or hospital areas or entertainment, like amphitheaters, those were all areas that I really tried to hit. And I think after talking to some of my friends who work for the DOT and different people who know Raleigh really well, this was sort of just the result that I came to trying to address all of these different needs that the city has.
DTH: Do you think Raleigh should have a subway system?
NS: So, I don’t really think that Raleigh will ever have a New York-style subway system. It’s really just too cost-prohibitive, and it wouldn’t be the most efficient route for the way that money can be spent. It would cost way too much money to drill underground and have to, basically, create this infrastructure from the ground up. But there are a lot of steps that people in Wake County and North Carolina are doing to improve transportation which is really cool, and some of them are on the ballot this election season, which is pretty cool as well.
DTH: What are you hoping comes out of this project?
