If that sounds familiar, I wrote essentially the same thing after last year’s Cross Triangle Greenway ride recognizing the region’s growing greenway network.

Saturday’s ride was intended as the official open house for the East Coast Greenway Alliance and as a way to showcase Durham’s growing greenway system. The Alliance relocated its offices from Rhode Island to Durham in February, in large part to beef up development of its reason for being, a 3,000-mile greenway that, hopefully, will some day run from Key West, Fla., to the Canadian border. About half of the trail is complete in the Northeast; development is well behind that in the South (in North Carolina, just 14 percent of the 390 miles envisioned for the state are finished). Hence, the ECGA’s move south.

About 100 riders started Saturday’s ride, which began on a grassy knoll in the midst of the American Tobacco Campus, the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and the Durham Performing Arts Center. The location itself was symbolic, starting in the heart of Durham’s downtown renaissance. A few words kicked off the ride: Rep. David Price, a longtime friend of cyclists, noted that in the current budget-cutting climate “Advocacy has never been more important.” Dale McKeel, coordinator of Durham’s bicycle and pedestrian program, noted the escape greenways offer by citing David Byrne’s “Bicycle Diaries.” And Dennis Markatos-Soriano, executive director of the East Coast Greenway Alliance, didn’t miss a beat when a passing train drowned him out: “Let’s hear it for intermodal transportation!” (Durham’s new transit center was two blocks from the start.)

But it was the ride itself that spoke loudest about greenways and their significance. It started on Durham’s Downtown Connector, what I’ve come to think of as asterisk greenway: trail designated greenway that’s actually extra-wide sidewalk. Before the ride I had hoped to corner Chuck Flink, president and founder of Durham-based Greenways Inc., and ask if there’s an industry-accepted definition for what constitutes a greenway. Sometimes, a brief detour onto sidewalk is inevitable to make a vital connection. But I’ve become increasingly irked by greenways that advertise themselves as such when in fact they’re mostly sidewalk. My complaint was fresh after spending Thursday in Greensboro exploring a Bicentennial Greenway advertised at 3.9 miles when in fact a good three miles of that was sidewalk.

In the Durham Connector Trail’s defense, it was devised to make a difficult connection between the American Tobacco Trail on the south side of downtown and the South Ellerbee Creek Greenway to the north. That connection made, South Ellerbee proved the quintessential Triangle greenway, a meandering passage through forest and wetland providing cozy escape from the neighborhoods sometimes just 50 feet away.

Alas, South Ellerbee too quickly gave way to more sidewalk, more than a mile of it along Stadium Drive. The problem with sidewalk “greenways” isn’t just aesthetic, cozying up as they do to streets. It’s also a safety issue. Sidewalks generally cross driveways, driveways where cars typically most poke past in order to check out oncoming traffic. Rare is the driver who checks oncoming sidewalk traffic before advancing to check out oncoming car traffic. It’s one of the most dangerous situations cyclists face. (It’s also a danger to pedestrians.)

So dangerous that when Saturday’s route hung a left on four-lane Horton Road it proved a relief. Greenways (including the sidewalk variety) made up 57 percent of Saturday’s ride, roadways the remaining 43 percent. Most of those roadways included bike lanes. Some, such as busy Hillandale Road, did not. While Durham, which was awarded Bike Friendly Community status last year, has made good progress adding bike lanes and extra-wide roadways, passages on roads such as Hillandale are still required to make key connections in some places.

It’s worth it when the pay-off is a greenway on the order of Durham’s new Third Fork Creek Trail. Just opened, this nearly 3-mile path passes through a scenic wetland between Southern Boundaries Park near Martin Luther King Jr. Road and Garrett Road Park. It’s ideal as a recreation trail (we passed other cyclists, runners and strollers), it’s well-suited as a commuter connector. It’s the image I get of when I think of the perfect greenway.

Saturday’s ride spent its last 6.8 miles on the northernmost section of the American Tobacco Trail. This section opened in the 1990s and based on my observation is the most used greenway in the Triangle. Despite nine road crossings, it’s a pleasure to be on.

Due in part to my inability to follow directions, by the time I got back to the start, the registration tent was folded and gone, my fellow cyclists had dispensed after hanging around to share ride tales: there was no sign that a ride had taken place. Or so I thought until I heard a voice yell, “Joe! Joe! Over here!” Under a tree sat Dennis Markatos-Soriano with his wife and son.

He wanted to know how I’d liked the ride, if I’d had a good time. I shared my thoughts about the ride being good, both from the standpoint of showcasing Durham’s greenways but underscoring, from some of the dicey passages on roadways, the need to build more. I wondered if he might interpret this as criticism.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Markatos-Soriano said.

Rather than criticism, he’d interpreted it as a challenge. A good sign for the future of the East Coast Greenway.

Photo: Rider Carl Patterson eats a banana while contemplating why he can’t keep air in his back tire.

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Piedmont

Often when you move into new digs there’s so much going on you don’t have time to throw an open house. A couple months may pass before it dawns on you, “Oh, yeah … .”

That’s sorta the case with the East Coast Greenway Alliance. In February, the Alliance, which is spearheading an effort to create a 3,000-mile greenway from Key West, Fla., to Canada, announced it was moving its headquarters from Rhode Island to Durham. The move was seen as the Alliance’s recognition that while the greenway was progressing nicely in the Northeast (60 percent of the trail is done through New York, about 50 percent in New Jersey and a number of other states), development in the South was lagging. North Carolina, which stands to house about 390 miles of the East Coast Greenway, only has 14 percent of it complete. Thus, while it was unpacking boxes, signing a lease, getting its mail forwarded AND pushing for more greenway development in the South, an open house was delayed — until this Saturday.

And what better way to meet your new cycling neighbors than by throwing a bike ride?

The 28-mile ride will start and end in the heart of Durham, at the Diamond View lawn, next to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and across from the American Tobacco Campus. Fittingly, more than half of the ride (57 percent for you sticklers) will be on greenway (including the American Tobacco Trail and the recently completed Third Fork Creek Trail), “with the safest roads we could find for the rest,” according to ride organizers.

U.S. Rep. David Price will say a few words at 9:45 a.m. before the ride departs at 10 a.m. There are two rest stops, including one at the East Coast Greenway Alliance’s new office, and riders are expected to return at 1:20 p.m. Smaller riders can partake of the last 4.25 miles of the event with a small fry ride departing Solite Park on the ATT at 12:30.  Go here for a map of the route.

I’ll in the mix (look for a red cross bike), tweeting, shooting video, taking pictures — the whole multi-media thing. I’ll have a report on the ride next week, but really, it won’t be the same as being on the ride, which requests only a $5 donation (it’s free if you’re a member of the East Coast Greenway Alliance.) Should be fun.

For more on the ride, go here.

Photo: Saturday’s ECGA open house ride finishes on this stretch of the American Tobacco Trail heading into downtown Durham.

Coast

Meanwhile, at the coast it’s the 22nd Annual River to the Sea Bike Ride, a “casual-paced 20-mile ride” from Wilmington’s Front Street out to Wrightsville Beach Park and back using the River-to-the-Sea Route).  The ride is intended for all level of riders, it’s flat and there will be refreshments at the midpoint, in Wrightsville Beach Park. You must wear a helmet for this free ride that starts at 8:30 a.m. from Bailey Theatre Park, 12 N. Front Street in Wilmington.

More info, call 910.798.7165 or 910.256.7925

Mountains

Whenever I think of mountain rides I tend to think of long, grueling climbs up grades approaching 20 percent being pushed by lean, large-lunged cyclists. Maybe that’s why I tend not to think of mountain rides all that often. But Saturday’s ride sponsored by the Watauga Leisure Bike Club (just the name inspires comfort) is one worth giving  a thought.

The Watauga Leisure Bike Club (motto: “Biking for The Fun of It”) is, says its Web site, “an informal club consisting of cyclists of varying ages and abilities who enjoy biking and sightseeing.” They sponsor two or three rides a week, most taking two hours or less, on routes that can range from “very flat to quite hilly.”

Saturday’s ride begins at 9 a.m. and is rated “Low Intensity with higher intensity option.” It starts (and ends) from the Bethel Community Park in Sugar Grove (here’s a map.) It’s free.

For more info on the ride and the club, go here.

* * *

* Apologies to Vanity Fare (and to you).

Those are GGNC’s thoughts for an active weekend. Find out other ways you can get out this weekend by browsing our super calendar, a collection of events calendars from throughout the state, below.

Coast

CapeFearCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar for the Cape Fear/Wilmington/southern N.C. coast searchable by date and event name.

Coastal Guide
Comprehensive calendar including nature programs from a variety of costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs. Covers the entire coast.

Crystal Cost Tourism Authority
Comprehensive calendar focusing on the Crystal Coast. Good source for programs offered by N.C. Coastal Federation, Cape Lookout National Park, N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve and other costal conservation and research agencies that offer nature programs.

NCCoast.com
Comprehensive calendar including programs for the Outer Banks and Crystal Coast.

North Carolina Coast Host
Comprehensive calendar for the entire coast that lets you search for events by day, by region, by county, by city or by event (based on key word).

This Week Magazine
Primary focus is the Crystal Coast (North Carolina’s coastal midsection).

Mountains

Asheville Citizen-Times
From the main page, click on “Outdoors,” then WNC Outdoors calendar.

Blue Ridge Outdoors
Searchable calendar lets you extend your reach to events throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast (or you can just limit it to North Carolina). Also lets you search a boatload of categories, ranging from Hiking, Mountain Biking and Climbing to Trail Running, Triathlon and Road Walking.

The Mountain Times
From the main page, click on “Calendars,” then Main Events.

Todd’s Calendar

Piedmont

Charlotte

Charlotte Observer events calendar
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including Nature, Recreation, Recreation & Wellness, Running

Charlotte Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triad

GoTriad.com
Comprehensive calendar includes a Sports & Recreation category.

Piedmont Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Triangle

Triangle.com
Comprehensive calendar searchable by category, including: Birding, Boating, Cycling, Nature, Rec & Wellness, Recreation, Running, Swimming, Tennis, Yoga.

Carolina Parent
Comprehensive calendar concentrating on things the family can do together.

Statewide

Office of Environmental Education
One calendar for the numerous Environmental Education Centers statewide.

North Carolina State Parks
Lets you search for programs at the state’s parks, recreation areas and natural areas by location, by month, by topic. To reach the calendar from the home page, click on “Education,” then “Fun & Free Programs at Parks.”

National Forests in North Carolina
From the home page, click on Carolina Connections for news updates on the state’s four national forests as well as hints on recreational opportunities and a detailed rundown of recreation areas and the amenities at each.

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The Alliance is the driving force behind the East Coast Greenway, an in-the-works greenway that will one day run continuously from Key West, Fla., to Canada, a distance of nearly 3,000 miles. It bills itself as the urban alternative to the Appalachian Trail, offering a pedestrian-width ribbon of pavement instead natural surface and traveling through as many municipalities as possible, rather than avoiding them. More than 25 percent of the trail now exists. Problem is, the vast majority of the completed path lies well to the north.

“We’ve been progressing nicely in New England and the Mid-Atlantic,” says Dennis Markatos-Soriano, the alliance’s executive director. “Sixty percent of the trail is done in New York, in New Jersey it’s about 50 percent and in a number of other states, too.”

Turning to the South, Markatos-Soriano’s voice assumes the tone of a concerned parent.

“In the South,” he begins, “we haven’t had the capacity on the ground that we’ll have in the future. We’ll help give municipalities along the route, and state DOTs, all the tools they need to help us complete this route.”

How far behind is North Carolina, which stands to host about 390 miles of the ECG?

“It’s just under 20 percent complete,” says Markatos-Soriano. Checking his figures, he corrects himself. “Actually, it’s closer to 14 percent.”

That number is a bit squishy considering it includes trail that isn’t part of the long-term vision for the ECG through North Carolina. In the Triangle, the East Coast Greenway currently runs down the American Tobacco Trail from Durham into western Wake County, where it will head east and follow mostly existing greenway through Cary (White Oak and Black Creek), Umstead State Park, Raleigh (Reedy Creek, House Creek, Walnut Creek and the Neuse River greenways, which should be one continuous stretch within a couple of years) to the Johnston County line. In the long term, however, the ECG hopes to piggyback on the proposed high-speed rail line between Richmond and the Triangle, an emerging concept called “rails with trails.” (A local example is the Libba Cotten Bikeway in Carrboro, which runs a mile with freight track.)

Through the rest of the state, the route — or routes, rather — is less clear.

In North Carolina, as will be the case in several other locations, the East Coast Greenway will have alternate routes.

“We plan to stick with our historical plan for a coastal route,” says Markatos-Soriano of an alternate route that would run through Elizabeth City, Edenton, Williamston, Greenville, New Bern, Jacksonville and Wilmington.

The main route, after entering the Triangle, would have options. One is to head down the Neuse River and meet up with the alternative trail in New Bern. Another that’s been discussed over the past few years would see an extension of the American Tobacco Trail south to Harris Lake County Park and on to Raven Rock State Park near Lillington. From there, the trail would follow the Cape Fear River to Wilmington, before meeting the alternative coastal greenway and venturing south into South Carolina.

Despite the East Coast Greenway’s spotty progress to date through the state, Markatos-Soriano is optimistic. In addition to the 14 percent of trail that’s down, he says another 7 percent is “in development.” That is, either in design or construction. He says not all of that 7 percent is currently funded.

He also believes that the East Coast Greenway Alliance bears responsibility for making the trail happen through the state — and assumes the blame for why it hasn’t happened so far.

“I don’t want to put the burden on anyone but the East Coast Greenway Alliance for where we are,” he says.

Dave Connelly of Durham, vice chairman of North Carolina Rail-Trails and long-time trail advocate, says North Carolina presents a particular challenge.

“It’s a tangled web,” he says of the state. “It’s hard to see a straight line from Virginia and Willimington, and there’s no efficient way to do that.”

Connelly adds that rails-to-trails conversions have been more successful in the north because railroads’ lack of confidence in the regional economy’s ability to rebound has made them more open to abandoning their corridors for trail development. In North Carolina, however, the prospects for recovery make railroads reluctant to part with lines, even those they may not have used for 20 years and that are over-grown with pine trees and brush.

He cites as an example abandoned Norfolk Southern line running north from Durham. Not long ago there was talk of using that corridor to extend the American Tobacco Trail, which currently ends in downtown Durham, into Person County. But even though the line hasn’t been used in years the railroad isn’t convinced its days are over. Nor have they been open to the notion of a track-and-trail partnership.

“The railroad company hasn’t doesn’t see it as a benefit,” says Connelly. “They see it as liability issue with pedestrians on their property, even though that goes against tort.”

The trails making up the East Coast Greenway are built by local municipalities, sometimes in conjunction with the N.C. Department of Transportation. The alliance identifies valued corridors and works with the appropriate parties to help the greenways along the ECG’s path.

“We’re not trying to mandate routes,” Markatos-Soriano stresses. “We work with state leaders, with municipalities … .” A number of the folks they work with make up the alliance’s North Carolina committee, which he describes as “very well developed” and which will be invaluable in pushing trail development in the state. Also boding well is the fact that Gene Conti, secretary of NCDOT, has served on the alliance’s board of directors. (Another good sign: Chuck Flink, president and founder of Durham-based Greenways Inc., currently sits on the board and is a past chairman.)

There are even more promising sign of the East Coast Greenway Alliance’s commitment to the area. Markatos-Soriano says they recently signed a five-year lease for office space in Durham (just off the ATT near NC 54). Connelly sites an even stronger tie. Markatos-Soriano is from Pittsboro and went to UNC Chapel Hill, and he and his wife have family in Durham, offering the one enticement lacking from any other relocation packages the alliance may have entertained.

Says Connelly: “They have free babysitting in the area.”

* * *

More

For a map of proposed East Coast Greenway routes through North Carolina, and of existing trail, go here. For more in the ECG in North Carolina, go here.

East Coast Greenway Alliance Open House

When: May 7, 10 a.m.

Where: Originating from the American Tobacco Campus in Durham. More information will be posted here as it develops.

What: What more appropriate way to celebrate the ECGA’s new headquarters than with a 27.5-mile ride on nearby greenways, followed by food and speakers. Additional information TBA.

Photo: Riders enjoy a stretch of the East Coast Greenway on the American Tobacco Trail in Chatham County.

The post East Coast Greenway Alliance moves in to help N.C. move on appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

The ride was the first of what promises to be an annual event. The ride — a 39-mile excursion from the N.C. Museum of Art in Raleigh to the entertainment Mecca of downtown Durham (American Tobacco Complex, Durham Bulls Athletic Park, Durham Performing Arts Center, the jail) was intended to show how a dream of 40 years — of being able to ride a bike on greenway from Raleigh to the heart of Durham — is ever-so-close to being reality. About 75 percent of Friday’s ride was off-road: starting on the Reedy Creek Greenway in Raleigh, winding through Umstead State Park (save for an odd “short-cut” that had us mixing it up with lunchtime traffic on Harrison Avenue and Weston Parkway) down Cary’s Black Creek and White Oak Creek greenways and on to the American Tobacco Trail for the 22-mile (plus or minus) ride into downtown Durham.

Perhaps more telling than the 75 percent of the ride on greenway was the 25 percent that wasn’t. It wasn’t long ago that riding on greenway in the Triangle was a rare privilege: There was so little greenway that each stretch of 8-foot-wide blacktop, no matter how long, was an exotic respite from riding in traffic. Friday, it was the stints riding in traffic that were rare. There was a definite sense that greenways have evolved from a recreational plaything into a viable and vital transportation alternative. And that was just one of Friday’s encouraging signs.

Chuck Flink, president and co-founder of Durham-based Greenways Inc. and board chairman of the East Coast Greenway Alliance, noted that the route, which runs through six jurisdictions — Raleigh, Umstead State Park, Cary, Wake County, Chatham County, the city and county of Durham — is the longest urban trail in North Carolina. And Sig Hutchinson, the person most responsible for the Triangle’s growing greenway network, from his early work as president of the Triangle Greenways Council to his more recent efforts promoting open space in Wake County, finally answered a question I’ve been putting to him for nearly a decade: Has the Triangle’s greenway network become an irresistible force?

“This ride shows that we have reached the tipping point for greenways in the Triangle,” Hutchinson told the riders in Raleigh, implying that momentum behind greenway development has reached the point that future development is now assured, that greenways are now viewed in the Triangle as a basic service on par with drinking water and trash collection.

He went a step further: “We now have what I believe is the best greenway system in the country.”

Most encouraging were the riders themselves. The ride’s lead organizer was the East Coast Greenway Alliance, a non-profit charged with creating a 3,000-mile greenway from Key West, Fla., to the Canadian border that will pass through the Triangle on the route taken Friday. The group was anticipating an intimate turnout: Thursday afternoon 40 people had signed up for the ride on the event’s Facebook page. By ride time Friday afternoon more than 150 cyclists were ready to roll. (“I’m not worried,” said an excited, if not worried, Flink as he surveyed the crowd shortly before noon.)

As encouraging as their numbers was the riders’ diversity. There were riders in their 20s, there were riders in their 70s. There were Category bike racers, there were folks who looked like the most they’d ridden in the past year was down there street. There were people on mountain bikes, on road bikes, on hybrids, on tandems on Bike Fridays. And it was not, as is often the case with bike events, a nearly all-white gathering. It was a good cross-section of the Triangle, underscoring the mass appeal — and support — for greenways. Along the way I rode with a fellow who does four-hour rides from his home in North Raleigh to mountain bike at Lake Crabtree, a woman who commutes from seven miles one-way from downtown to North Raleigh, a Cary tech worker who commutes via Davis Drive to RTP, a North Durham woman who won her cycling category at the senior games in Durham County, then showed up at the state senior games to find people with carbon bikes and aero helmets. (Alas, she returned home with no gold.)

Again, a variety of riders, a variety of people, all greenway supporters.

At ride’s end, the notion of greenways evolving from luxury to necessity was underscored by the person who counts most in North Carolina on transportation matters, Gene Conti, secretary of the N.C. Department of Transportation. Conti, eschewing the sartorial trappings of typical of high-level officials in favor of a polo short and khakis, shared an anecdote from his first days in office. When it came time for his Official Portrait to be taken, he was taken outside for a suitable backdrop. He glanced behind him to see he was framed beneath the arch of the old Highway Department building.

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” he told the photographer. “You’ll have to air brush that out. We’re not just about highways anymore. We are now a full-service transportation department.”

“The way we look at transportation has changed,” he added. “We have options, and we need to start thinking about those options.”

* * *

Friday’s route

Here are links to greenways that were part of Friday’s Cross Triangle Greenway ride:
Reedy Creek Greenway (Raleigh)
Umstead State Park
Black Creek Greenway, Cary
White Oak Creek Greenway, Cary
American Tobacco Trail, Wake, Chatham and Durham counties

* * *
For a slideshow of Friday’s ride, go here.

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