Thursday evening, Sig Hutchinson and Vic Lebsock shared their respective visions of the Triangle greenway scene at the monthly meeting of the Sierra Club’s Capital Group chapter. Hutchinson represented a more future-oriented, farsighted approach that deals in both reality and hopeful thinking both necessary to The Big Picture, Lebsock with the laser-focused nearsightedness required keep things advancing day to day. Their respective approaches showed how two people can both look at the cup being half full — with differing degrees of fullness
Category Archives: Greenway
Rolesville grows a park — and more
Lately, I’ve had a gift for divining cool, off-the-radar municipal parks. First, there was the new White Deer Park in Garner (off the radar, perhaps, only because it only opened in November). A week later I rediscovered Cedarock Park in Alamance County. This past Saturday: Main Street Park in Rolesville.
A bike for all reasons
Over the years, I’ve written several pieces attempting to match the right bike with the right person. I’ve written about the right bike for aspiring commuters, I’ve written about the right bike for roadie wannabes, I’ve written about the right bike for people who want to take a spin on their local greenway and the right bike for folks curious about mountain biking. One bike I haven’t written about, though, is a bike that can do it all — a little greenway, a little road, a little off-road.
A bike I’ve long suspected to be the cyclocross bike.
In appearance, a cross bike resembles a road bike. They were developed for cyclocross racing, a pursuit created a century ago by European road racers trying to stay in shape over the winter. The races take place off road, involve mud and have various obstacles that require a fair amount of hoping off the bike, throwing it over your shoulder and carrying it. As a result, the bikes have a higher bottom bracket
House Creek Greenway construction to begin in April
Raleigh will break ground in April on one of its most anticipated stretches of greenway: the 3-mile House Creek Greenway. Runners, bikers, distance walkers and other greenway enthusiasts have been especially interested in the greenway because it will link the 11 miles of completed Crabtree Creek Greenway to the east with about 14 miles of greenway running from Meredith College, over I-440 to the N.C. Museum of Art, then along Reedy Creek Road into Umstead State Park and into Cary. Some quick cyphering reveals the House Creek link will create a 28-mile network of greenway.* And that’s only taking into account greenway already open.
White Oak greenway stretch to close for two years
The good news: The long-awaited promise of being able to take a greenway from near downtown Raleigh to the heart of downtown Durham came a step closer to reality last week with the unofficial opening of the 4.6-mile Chatham County section of the American Tobacco Trail. It’s now possible to walk/run/bike/equestriate for 13.8 miles on the ATT south of I-40. The trail resumes on the north side of I-40, running from NC 54 north for 6.7 miles into downtown Durham. The only remaining stretch left on the ATT: about a mile and a half bridging the two sections, including a pedestrian bridge over I-40.