Within two years, here’s how your day on the Raleigh greenways might look.

You start out on a bike ride at Lake Johnson. Park at the boathouse and take a leisurely (except for the hills on the lake’s south side) lap around the lake before heading down Walnut Creek through N.C. State’s Centennial Campus taking note of all the new construction. Stop at the Farmer’s Market to see if the strawberries are in yet, then continue downstream on some of Raleigh’s oldest greenway. Pass the abandoned E.B. Bain water treatment plant, swing by the Walnut Creek Wetland Center, pass through Worthdale and Walnut Creek parks and head on down to the Neuse River.

Here, with about 15 miles already under your belt, you pause to catch your breath and make a decision: north or south? It dawns on you that you haven’t been to Clayton for a while, so you head south along a sylvan stretch of the new Neuse River Trail. After nearly 14 miles you satisfy your Clayton itch, turn around and become so caught up in riding 33 miles of uninterrupted greenway (no street crossings to deal with) that before you know it you’re at the base of Falls Lake dam, the Neuse River Trail finally exhausted. You turn and retreat 17 miles back down the Neuse to the Crabtree Creek Trail. Like the Walnut Creek Trail you started the day on, Crabtree Creek runs west from the Neuse River Trail, about 17 miles into North Raleigh.

You stop about three miles shy of the end, though, and head south on the House Creek Greenway, which parallels the Beltline for 2.9 miles before T-ing into the Reedy Creek Trail. You hang a right, which takes you onto the pedestrian bridge over the Beltline into the N.C. Museum of Art, where you take a moment to contemplate Thomas Sayer’s onionringesque handiwork. Then it’s on to Umstead State Park. Now, you could continue through Umstead and hook up on the other side at Lake Crabtree with Cary’s Black Creek Greenway, which meets up with the White Oak Creek Greenway in Bond Park, which takes you almost to the American Tobacco Trail. A glance at the mid-afternoon sun tells you you haven’t time for this 16-mile detour. You turn around and head back down the Reedy Creek Trail, back over the Beltline and through the Meredith College campus (but not before a quick hop across Hillsborough to Ben & Jerry’s).

Where Reedy Creek ends at Hillsborough and Gorman streets, there’s a slightly inconvenient 1/3-mile connection you must make on Gorman to reach the Rocky Branch Greenway. More good sightseeing as Rocky Branch takes you through the N.C. State Campus, past the newly renovated Pullen Park and by Central Prison and Dorthea Dix. At Dix, you pause under a lovely gazebo just off the trail, but not for long because you notice you’re starting to lose daylight. Fortunately, you’re back to the Walnut Creek Trail: Hang a right and it’s only about 7 miles back to Lake Johnson.

You get back to your car, unclip and suddenly realize how incredibly tired you are. Little wonder: You just rode 116 miles.

All on greenway in the city of Raleigh.

Two years hence

Within two years, the core of a massive greenway system envisioned for Raleigh in the 1970s will be in place. It’s a little tardy: early on, it was expected that the network would reach the 200-mile mark by 2000. Come 2014, Raleigh should have about 106 miles of paved greenway systemwide, a large percentage of which will be interconnected. The main elements of the greenway, which are expected to come together in the next two years:

• Neuse River Trail, 28 miles, 6.5 of which is open. The greenway will run from the base of Falls dam south along its namesake river to the Johnston County line (where it will connect with five additional miles heading south into Clayton).
• Walnut Creek Trail, 17 miles, 12.3 of which is open. Runs around and south from Lake Johnson, along Walnut Creek, through N.C. State’s Centennial Campus, then through southeast Raleigh before meeting the Neuse River Trail south of Poole Road.
• Crabtree Creek Trail, 16.7 miles, 12.1 of which is open. Runs from just shy of Ebenezer Church Road southeast to the Neuse River Trail.
• Reedy Creek/Rocky Branch greenways, 9 miles. Runs from the Walnut Creek Trail north through N.C. State, Meredith College and the N.C. Museum of Art to Umstead State Park. (There, you can take a finely-crushed, tire-friendly trail 5 miles through the park to Lake Crabtree, where you can pick up Cary’s Black Creek and White Oak Creek greenways, which run 11.7 miles total, ending just shy of the 22-mile American Tobacco Trail.
• House Creek Greenway, 2.9 miles, expected to open within a month. A short but vital stretch, linking the Crabtree Creek Trail with the Reedy Creek Trail.
• Mine Creek/Honeycutt Creek greenways, 12 miles. This trail eventually will link the Crabtree Creek Trail with Falls Lake. Currently, the lower 6.55 miles, from Crabtree Creek north to near Six Forks Road, is down; the remaining 5.7 miles to Falls Lake should begin construction this summer.

And beyond 2014?

So what happens when the core of the Raleigh greenway system is in place come 2014 and the current $35 million greenway construction boom is completed?

“There are a couple things developing in the next year that we’ll need to look at carefully,” Vic Lebsock, Raleigh’s greenway planner, said last week. “The city is redoing its parks plan and that will include an update of the Capital Area Greenway system, which hasn’t been done in 20 years.”

For instance, with a growing greenway system comes increased use — and an increase in user conflicts. And it’s not just growing numbers: the paths are popular with a variety of uses, from strollers, to fitness walkers to skateboarders to inline skaters to families out for a leisurely bike ride to fitness-oriented cyclists looking to get in a long workout. Not to mention the fact that as the greenway network takes you to more places, more people use it as a secondary transportation network, taking it to work, to the store, to school. That’s a lot of diverse activity on a strip of asphalt just 10 feet wide.

“We may end up putting a center stripe on some greenways,” said Lebsock. “Or maybe we establish commuter routes. Maybe during certain hours of operation, we change the speed limit.”

The speed limit on Raleigh greenway, by the way, is 10 miles per hour. Probably not what your typical commuter or fitness rider is clocking on their cycle computer.

“Maybe the hours of operation need to be extended in certain situations,” he added.

Again, fyi, the greenways are officially open sunrise to sunset. That’s the case for most Triangle greenways, though in the case of greenways used for commuting and transportation in general, hours have been extended. The American Tobacco Trail in Durham, for instance, is officially open until 10 p.m.

A case in point in Raleigh: the pedestrian bridge over the Beltline, which is gated every evening at sunset. Especially in the lesser daylight months, getting home before the gate closes can be a challenge for commuters.

“I still see the greenway as being primarily for recreational use,” Lebsock said. “Bike use for commuting or for exercise, in my opinion, should be on the streets.”

One area where the greenways’ growing popularity has already been acknowledged is along the pavement’s shoulders. They’re now 6 feet wide on both sides, including two feet on both sides of finely crushed stone over-planted with grass, a foot-friendly surface that will siphon most runners off the pavement.

More directional signs need to go up as well. For the new greenways, signs and maps to help you find your way are standard, as are mileage markers every quarter mile. (Existing trails being retrofitted with mile markers get them every half mile.) Installing directional signs on existing trail will likely require another bond issue, as will new asphalt.

And, of course, there’s the need for more paths, especially in lightly served North Raleigh.

Lebsock has more ideas on what he thinks the system needs, but he’s reluctant to share them. He wants to wait and see what the public wants. A public comment period will begin soon as part of the parks and greenway update, a public comment period Lebsock said, “will be the most complete public process you’re gonna get anywhere.” That process is expected to begin mid-summer and take 18 months.

The timing is good, wrapping up about the time the current greenway construction frenzy wraps up. Based on what the public wants, Lebsock said they can get to work on the next phase of improving Raleigh’s greenway.

“I’m going to be fully open to what today’s modern, urban Raleigh wants,” said Lebsock, compared to what the large town of the 1980s needed it to be.”

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A week(plus) of greenways

Our week(plus) of greenways:

Thursday, April 12: House Creek Greenway to Open June 25 (Read: Memorial Day)
Monday: 90 Second Escape: Raleigh’s Growing Greenway System
Tuesday: Raleigh’s Neuse River Trail: Another 3.5 miles by August, 16.1 miles by November.
Today: Raleigh’s Greenway: 2014 and Beyond.
Friday: The big picture: A look at how the Triangle’s greenway network will look in less than two years.

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View Raleigh Greenways in a larger map

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Raleigh’s greenway system: 2014 and beyond appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

To follow along with the trails mentioned below, download a copy of the Raleigh greenway map here.

The first 8 miles of the the Neuse Greenway Trail is all but 20-feet finished.

That’s the official word this morning from Raleigh Senior Greenway Planner Vic Lebsock. Officially, there’s only 20 feet left to finish, on a boardwalk a little over two miles south of the northern trailhead (off the old Falls of Neuse Road). A stretch under Capital Boulevard and greenway under the new Falls of Neuse Road — both of which were under construction a month ago — have been completed, Lebsock said. That means you could start from the southern trailhead, at the WRAL/CASL Soccer Complex off Perry Creek Road between Capital Boulevard and Louisburg Road, and travel unencumbered six miles upstream.

Lebsock couldn’t say when the 20-foot gap would be finished. He could say, “We hope to have the official ribbon cutting in November.” He also could say that while the trail officially isn’t open, there sure are a lot of people have discovered the greenway and are using it.

While the 20-foot-gap issue gets resolved, construction on most of the rest of the Neuse Greenway Trail should get underway within the next two weeks. Lebsock says construction should begin from Horseshoe Creek Farm (just across the Neuse River from where the aforementioned 8-mile stretch ends) south to near the Heddingham neighborhood, and from Anderson Point south to the Johnston County Line. Two remaining mile-long stretches are expected to go to bid by January.

Lebsock says the entire 28-mile Neuse Greenway Trail — from Falls of Neuse dam south to the Johnston County line — remains on target to be finished by the end of 2012.

“We’re right on schedule,” says Lebsock

In other Raleigh greenway news:

House Creek Greenway. This much-anticipated 2.9-mile greenway will connect the city’s Reedy Creek Greenway on the west with the 11-mile-long Crabtree Creek Greenway to the east. Lebsock says construction continues all along this stretch, which essentially parallels Raleigh’s Beltline (I-440). He said “unforeseen construction problems” have delayed reopening of Glen Eden Road, under which a pedestrian tunnel has been built (the tunnel, in addition to a tunnel under Lake Boone Trail, are both finished), and work continues on a connector greenway extending from Ridge Road that links into House Creek and the Reedy Creek greenways just east of the pedestrian bridge over the Beltline.

That connector plays a key role in a seemingly unrelated greenway two miles to the west. There, a  greenway less than a mile long has been built along Edwards Mill Road by the N.C. Department of Transportation linking the Reedy Creek Trail with the RBC Center. As part of the House Creek project, the gates on the pedestrian bridge over the Beltline will be removed. Those gates are locked at night to prevent access to the Meredith College campus, through which the southeastern portion of the Reedy Creek Greenway passes (a new gate will be built in the pedestrian tunnel under Wade Avenue, through which the Reedy Creek Greenway passes). Using street connectors and greenways, it will be possible for people living inside the Beltline to take the greenway to Carolina Hurricanes games and other evening events at the RBC Center.

Lebsock says the entire House Creek project should be finished by March 2012.

Crabtree Creek Greenway extension to the Neuse River. Currently, the 11-mile greenway follows its namesake creek from near Duraleigh Road downstream to Milburnie Road. This four-mile project would link the Milburnie end with the Neuse River and Neuse Greenway Trail. Lebsock says stretch will likely go to bid in January or February, with completion targeted for the second quarter of 2013. (On the northwest end, the Crabtree Creek Greenway eventually will run to Umstead State Park and hook into the park’s 18-mile bike and bridle trail network.

Walnut Creek Greenway to New Hope Road. The Walnut Creek Greenway currently runs along the south side of Raleigh, from Lake Wheeler Road east to Worthdale Park. Eventually, greenway to be built through N.C. State’s Centennial Campus will link it with the Lake Johnson Greenway to the west. To the east, four miles remain before the Walnut Creek Greenway taps into the emerging Neuse Greenway Trail. Two of those miles, from Worthdale Park to South New Hope Road, will go out to bid in 30 to 60 days, according to Lebsock. That stretch should open by the end of 2012. Funding for the remaining two miles, from South New Hope to the Neuse, rests in the fate of a $40 million transportation bond that goes before Raleigh voters Oct. 11.

Honeycutt Creek Greenway: The 6-mile Honeycutt Creek Greenway will run from Strickland Road to Falls Lake, where it will connect with the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Lebsock says a few final approvals and permits are needed for this trail, but that it should go to bid shortly and construction should begin in January. It is expected to be finished by the end of 2012.

The post First 8 miles of Neuse Trail 20 feet from ‘officially’ opening appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

In 2008, though, Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker decided it should be. And, he said, we should get it done in four years — an ambitious deadline for a 28-mile, $30 million greenway project that would require seven pedestrian bridges crossing the Neuse River and numerous more over smaller tributaries.  This summer, says Raleigh Senior Greenway Planner Vic Lebsock, the first 8-mile stretch of the Neuse River Greenway should open.

“It should open late June or early July,” says Lebsock of the northernmost stretch of the greenway, which will run from the Falls Lake dam downstream to the WRAL Soccer Complex near Louisburg Road.

This stretch — 7.9 miles in length, actually — will require seven bridges, none over the Neuse. It will be the longest stretch of single greenway ever opened at one time in the Triangle. The project is being funded, in part, by federal stimulus money.

Additionally, Lebsock says, the city expects to award bids in about 60 days for another 20 miles of the greenway, from just below the WRAL Soccer Complex and Horseshoe Farm Park to the Johnston County line. Portions of that stretch could open by mid 2012; the entire 20 miles could be done by early 2013. That would leave a three-quarter-mile stretch of the greenway, at Horseshoe Farm Park. Lebsock says they had to tinker with the design of that stretch, but that it should go out to bid this year and be completed in 2013. That’s a little past Meeker’s 2012 goal.

Significant as the 28-mile Neuse Greenway is in its own right, it becomes more so considering another stretch of Raleigh greenway scheduled to be bid this fall. Currently, the Crabtree Creek Trail Greenway runs 11.7 miles, from near Duraleigh Road not far from Umstead State Park down Crabtree Creek to Milburnie Road. The 4-mile stretch of greenway going to bid this fall would continue Crabtree Creek Trail downstream to the Neuse River — connecting into the 28-mile Neuse River Greenway.

Quick math — the 11.7-mile Crabtree Trail plus the 28-mile Neuse River Greenway — would suggest that’s 39.7 miles of connected greenway. But that’s not including the six miles of greenway the heads north from Crabtree Trail past Shelley Lake. And if you were here yesterday, you learned that that stretch will be extended another six miles north, to Falls Lake, next year with construction of the Honeycutt Creek Greenway (that gets us up to 45 miles). And, again had you been here yesterday, you would have discovered that the 2.9-mile House Creek Greenway is now under construction and should open by year’s end (48.6 miles). That greenway will link the Crabtree Creek Trail with the Reedy Creek Greenway, which is part of an additional 24 miles of Raleigh greenway (72.6 miles). Reedy Creek also connects with the 5-mile bike & bridle trail in Umstead State Park (77.6 miles), which connects with the 6-mile — and growing — Black Creek Greenway in Cary.

By my cyphering, that’s a total of 83.6 miles of connected greenway. To keep my head from exploding I’ll forgo, for right now, mentioning that Cary is in the process of finishing a link of the Black Creek Greenway, which runs into Fred Bond Park where it connects with the White Oak Creek Greenway, which will eventually connect with the 22-mile American Tobacco Trail.

In short, in two years, the Triangle should have more than 100 miles of interconnected greenway.

Photo: In the beginning (and at present), the Neuse River Greenway consisted of a 3.5-mile stretch of natural surface path running upstream from Anderson Point.

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