Hillsborough Street
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Hillsborough Street is a prominent business and cultural thoroughfare through Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. It serves as a center for social life among North Carolina State University students since the road loosely marks the northern boundary of the school's Main Campus. Essentially, Hillsborough Street is the NCSU equivalent to rival University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Franklin Street. Nearby Meredith College students also frequent the area businesses. Numerous bars, restaurants, coffee shops, convience stores and banks are located along a strip of Hillsborough Street that borders the university. The road is also a heavily-traveled corridor, linking the town of Cary with downtown Raleigh. Additionally, the road passes by the North Carolina State University Centennial Biomedical Campus and the North Carolina State Fairgrounds.
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[edit] Geography and history
A modern alternate route to Hillsborough Street in Raleigh is Western Boulevard, which parallels the street to the south. Hillsborough Street terminates in the east at the North Carolina State Capitol at Salisbury Street. The street's western terminus is at the Cary town limits, where the roadway continues as East Chatham Street after crossing Interstate 40. North Carolina Highway 54 begins on Hillsborough Street at the Interstate 440 Beltline interchange and travels west for one mile before forking onto Chapel Hill Road. NCSU's Bell Tower is clearly visible at the street's intersection with Pullen Road. Hillsborough Street takes its name from the city Hillsborough, a former capital city of North Carolina. Like many downtown Raleigh streets, the street's name is derived from a city of the same name in the state; though, initially the street was named Hillsboro Road. The street was first constructed in 1792 as part of the capital city's initial layout.[1]
[edit] Celebrations
[edit] Hillsborough Hike
Occurring on the last day of classes (before finals), NCSU students participate a bar crawl that starts at one end of Hillsborough Street and ends at the other. The goal is to get a drink from every bar.
[edit] Paint the Town Red
As part of the North Carolina State University's 2006 homecoming week, many businesses along Hillsborough Street agreed to paint their windows red.[2] The annual NCSU Homecoming Parade traverses a portion of the street.
[edit] WRAL-TV Raleigh Christmas Parade
This WRAL-TV Christmas parade is usually routed along Hillsborough Street and various other Raleigh Streets. It normally takes place every November.[3]
[edit] Krispy Kreme Challenge
The Krispy Kreme Challenge, a race invented and organized by NC State Park Scholars with a majority of runners attending NC State, is a new NC State tradition which attracted over 1,000 runners in 2007. Part of Hillsborough Street is closed in order for runners to make their way from the NC State Bell Tower to the Krispy Kreme on Peace Street. The objective is to get to the Krispy Kreme, eat a box of doughnuts and run back to the Bell Tower.
[edit] Redesign
After a study was conducted in 2002, the city of Raleigh has pushed forth with efforts to revitalize and redesign Hillsborough Street and the surrounding area. City council members, however, were unable to come to a consensus on how best to accomplish this goal until early 2007, when a plan to replace two traffic signals with roundabouts was approved. The hope of the project is to rejuvinate the area, improve traffic flow, and increase pedestrian safety. Construction is set to be complete in 2008. Officials and planners have yet to come to an agreement on how best to solve the problem of too few parking spaces for local businesses.[4][5]
[edit] References
- ^ City of Raleigh - Hillsborough Street Redesign
- ^ Technician Online - Hillsborough Street is seeing red (10-30-2006)
- ^ WRAL-TV Raleigh Christmas Parade 2005
- ^ City of Raleigh - Hillsborough Street Redesign Plan (Feb 7, 2007)
- ^ WRAL reports on the approved Hillsborough Street plan (Feb 20, 2007)
