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After recently receiving a $3 million federal grant to support the South Park Heritage Walk/Chavis-Dix Strollway, the City is seeking community guidance on next steps. City staff will hold two public input sessions:
- Thursday, September 15, 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
- Saturday, September 17, 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Both events will take place at John Chavis Memorial Park Community Center.
During the input sessions, there will be opportunity to provide feedback on route preferences for the Chavis-Dix Strollway route. Community members will be asked to help prioritize important design and implementation considerations for South Park Heritage Walk, including:
- Community design
- Public spaces
- Connectivity
- Signage and way finding
- Marketing and promotion
Join Us!
We look forward to the next steps! Please join our interactive public input sessions to help shape the connection between premier Raleigh parks, John Chavis Memorial Park and Dorothea Dix Park.
Registration is encouraged, but not required.
- Session 1: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/404883356017
- Session 2: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/404887207537
Community Involvement
Many community members joined us in October 2021 for the Stroll in the Streets event to imagine the possibilities for the Chavis-Dix Strollway.
Project Background
A great deal of research, planning and community discussion have gone into envisioning an East Raleigh Heritage Walk to increase awareness of the area's history and ongoing contribution to the evolution of downtown Raleigh. Our partners, Celen Passalar and Kofi Boone at the North Carolina State University, College of Design, led efforts to publish South Park Heritage Walk Project: Educate, Preserve, Memorialize in 2014.
At the June 16, 2020 City Council meeting, staff presented, and Council approved a recommendation to reallocate funding to move forward with short-term improvements to connect John Chavis Memorial Park and Dorothea Dix Park. With an understanding of existing and planned transportation improvements in the area, staff identified Lenoir Street as the primary preferred bike and pedestrian connection, commonly referred to as the Chavis to Dix Strollway. Longer term, staff noted that improvements to Western Boulevard and Martin Luther King Boulevard as part of the Bus Rapid Transit project will provide another, more direct, connection between Dix Park and Chavis Park
Over the past year, staff from Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources; Transportation; and the Urban Design Center have been working together on a variety of initiatives. Within the past few months, the working group has expanded to include representatives from Oaks and Spokes, the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, Shaw University and Citrix Cycle.
