The long-awaited pedestrian bridge over I-40 in Durham that represents the last link in the 22-mile American Tobacco Trail — the link that was supposed to begin construction later this summer and open next year — has been derailed.
Turns out the project will cost about $2 million more than Durham anticipated, $2 million that the city must now try to come up with in a period of extreme cutbacks in across-the-board government spending.
We’ve added two more greenways to our greenway guide, both of which offer a potential day of escape, especially for young families.
Smithfield: Buffalo Creek Greenway. When we stumbled across this work-in-progress in spring 2010, we were surprised by the audacity of such a project (a $1.2 million, 3.3-mile greenway) in a relatively small town (population 13,000ish). The greenway joins the city’s historic center with new development on the north side of town. Starting at Bob Wallace Kiddie Park (and Riverside Cemetery, worth a visit in itself), the greenway skirts the Neuse River (passing the Neuse Little Theatre), then follows Buffalo Creek out to Smithfield Community Park, home of the new (2009) Smithfield Recreation & Aquatics Center, complete with indoor pool and splash park, indoor track, racquetball, basketball courts and more. Meanwhile, back downtown Smithfield’s wide streets and minimal traffic make exploring by bike enjoyable even for the newest of peddlers. Destinations include the Ava Gardner Museum and 75-year-old Howell Theatre and $3 movies.
If you bookmark no other entry from this blog, bookmark this one. It contains links to five resources especially conducive to leading an active lifestyle.
GetGoingNC.com Guide to North Carolina Greenways. Looking to take a run, a walk, a ride on a greenway, either in your town or elsewhere in North Carolina? Our revamped site contains a guide to North Carolina that is the most comprehensive Tarheel greenway guide available — and is becoming more comprehensive by the week. Find maps, detailed trail descriptions, slideshows, trailhead information and general descriptions of the state’s longer greenways as well as info on where to find the smaller ones. You’ll find in in the navigation panel on the upper left of the GGNC home page.
A decade ago, there were perhaps 50 miles of greenway in the Triangle. Small stretches of mostly 1- and 2-mile paths that offered recreation for the immediate neighborhood, but not much more. Certainly nothing to throw the bikes on the roof rack and drive across town for, let alone rely on as a secondary transportation network for commuting to work or getting groceries.
In the 1990s, the 2.3-mile Black Creek Greenway — running from Lake Crabtree south to West Dynasty Drive — was the crown jewel of Triangle greenways. Today, the still-popular greenway has expanded to nearly its entire, planned 7-plus-mile length. A crucial 1.4-mile connection earlier this month from Chapel Hill Road at NW Maynard Street to SW Maynard near High House Road means there’s only about a half mile of uncompleted trail, and that stretch is easily circumvented, for now, with sidewalks and neighborhood streets.