In a city without a river, bay or lake, one of the most common views of the Raleigh skyline has a road in the foreground, where U.S. 401 snakes from the south into downtown.
Now that view is changing, as several private and city construction projects alter the landscape of Raleigh’s southern gateway.
Perhaps the most obvious difference is the acres of bare earth just beyond where McDowell Street passes under Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard — until recently covered with trees. This is where the developers of a project known as the City Gateway district are building a 228-space automated underground parking garage and extending Kindley Street to create a new intersection with MLK…