Depending upon how adventurous you are, the first 8-mile installment of the Neuse River Greenway is open.
Based on a scouting expedition yesterday, roughly 7.9 miles of the Raleigh greenway, which eventually will run the length of the Neuse in Wake County, are finished. That tenth of a mile that’s not technically opened is over two short stretches. The first comes 2.6 miles from the northern trailhead at Falls of Neuse Road just below Falls Dam. There, a boardwalk is under construction: the footings and supports are in, the decking being screwed down. Although the area beneath appeared wet, tracks to the side of the structure suggested it had been bypassed by cyclists and travelers afoot.read more
While Durham officials circle their wagons and privately mull how to come up with another $2 million to build a pivotal pedestrian bridge over I-40, thereby completing the 22-mile American Tobacco Trail, others outside the city are more candid with possible solutions.read more
Downtown Winston-Salem looms at the end of the north end of the Strollway.
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.read more
No matter how far you’ve ever walked, I’m guessing you’ve never walked back in time. You can Saturday, on the monthly two-hour historical walking tour through Wilmington’s Oakdale Cemetery.read more
Sometimes all you need to get moving is a good excuse. Permission, say, to get up from your desk and take a 30-minute walk. Which is what you have today from the American Heart Association.
Today is National Start! Walking Day, deemed so by the American Heart Association. Today, over your lunch “hour,” the AHA wants you to get up from your desk and take a 30-minute walk — a 30-minute walk-a-day being the AHA’s prescription for better heart health (in addition to yielding a host of other benefits). And if the boss raises an eyebrow and says, “Whoa! Bumstead! Where do you think you’re going?”, the AHA has a succinct elevator speech for you to deliver:read more
