Western Blvd/Martin Luther King Blvd – map it
This is the final part of a 10-part series (there will be bonus entries soon!) in which we examine Raleigh’s most
embarrassing shortcoming to visitors: the abundance of dysfunctional street names. A city should try to be
easily understood instead remaining a labyrinth only understood by the
long-time natives.
This one is a mess, too. The Western Blvd that we all know extends from behind Memorial Auditorium to the point west of I-440 where Hillsborough St. butts in. The eastern half of this road is a fairly new connection of minor roads collectively called Martin Luther Kind Blvd. It extends eastward to Poole Rd. This road is one of Raleigh’s most important, best flowing East/West connectors. There is a second Western Blvd. It is the eastern extension of Cary Towne Blvd. Apparently there are/were plans to connect Cary Towne to Western, but no discussion has arisen lately.
Problem – Drivers may not recognize this free flowing artery if they are in an unfamiliar part of Raleigh. Emergency services may be unclear as to which Western Blvd contains an emergency.
Solution – This one is tricky. First of all, rename the fragmented Western to "Cary Town Blvd". The main Western Blvd is a much older, established name that wouldn’t make sense in east Raleigh. So, rename Western Blvd to Martin Luther King Blvd. This would be controversial, however it would be less controversial than renaming the whole artery something different, like “Southern Blvd”. In the latter case, the city would be forced to rename another road after MLK. The best candidate would be Raleigh Blvd, but it is not an important street and it is used by few white people, and it would be very confusing to move a street name. King’s contributions stem from his ability to be understood by all people, so his street shouldn’t just be a local street. But many would argue that one of the most major arteries shouldn’t be named after such a controversial figure. Clearly, though, the best solution is to have one single name for the road. That is whole point of this series!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this series. As I’ve stated before, Raleigh could have a much simpler road system by renaming many streets. Certainly this will be a hardship to those who have to announce their new addresses, but this is a small price to pay for Raleigh having an easily presentable road plan. Until the street names are simplified, Raleigh can at least post signs at intersections announcing the the end and beginning of two roads. The omission of simple signage shows that the City isn’t even trying to make our lives easier.
