How close is Raleigh’s long-awaited House Creek Greenway from being completed?

One really tall boardwalk.

Rather than words, we’ll take you on a ride so you can get a feel for the greenway and just how close it is to being done. The one really tall boardwalk is at the very south end of the new greenway, where House Creek connects with Raleigh’s Reedy Creek Greenway.

If you’re curious about all the excitement over a 2.9-mile stretch of greenway — especially when much larger stretches of the 28-mile Neuse River Greenway are coming on line this year — check out this previous post.

House Creek is officially scheduled to be completed by June 25.

View House Creek Trail in a larger map

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Today’s 90-Second Escape: The Triangle’s Growing Greenways.

Today, we kick off a week of greenway coverage with a 90-Second Escape, this time in slideshow form. Today’s escape focuses on the $35 million in greenway construction projects working in Raleigh, and how those projects will drastically alter the face of Raleigh’s — and the Triangle’s — greenway network.

Also this week:

Tuesday: A construction update on Raleigh’s Neuse River Trail and other major greenway projects.

Wednesday: After the aforementioned projects are completed and the core of Raleigh’s greenway system is in place, then what? A conversation with Raleigh greenway planner Vic Lebsock.

Thursday: Weekend plans — with a focus on greenways.

Friday: The big picture: A look at how the Triangle’s greenway network will look in less than two years.

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Raleigh’s highly anticipated 3-mile House Creek Greenway is scheduled to open in March. Sunday, I took a little inspection tour. More about that in a sec. First, about that “highly anticipated” description.

In Raleigh’s rapidly expanding greenway network, 3 miles isn’t a lot. The system consists of close to 70 miles at this point, and this 3-mile stretch is dwarfed, sizewise, by another stretch also under construction: the 28-mile Neuse River Trail, which opened its first 6.5-mile stretch in October and expects to be completely done — from the Falls dam south to the Johnston County line — in 2013.

House Creek is being closely watched because it will link the 11-mile Crabtree Creek Trail to the north with the Reedy Creek Trail and 22 miles of connected trail to the south. That southern stretch runs from Southeast Raleigh through the N.C. State and Meredith campuses, through the N.C. Museum or Art, through Umstead State Park and into Cary — almost to Bond Park. Completion of House Creek will create 36 miles of connected greenway. Hence, “highly anticipated,” “closely watched,” “eagerly awaited,” “drooled over” — your pick.

So, will this 36-mile connection happen this spring? Looks like it.

From the northern trailhead, at Blue Ridge Road and Crabtree Valley Avenue, where it joins the Crabtree Creek Trail, the House Creek Greenway is paved for a mile and a half to the south.

Note for liability purposes: “paved” does not equal “open.” No signs are up, for one, and the bridge over House Creek lacks guardrails. There are, no doubt, other little things discernible only to the keen eyes of the contractor and the City of Raleigh that need to be finished before the greenway is deemed open for public use. This caveat applies to all subsequent mentions of trail being “paved.” We resume our post, in progress.

The trail remains unpaved for the next 0.6 of a mile south, through the box culvert tunnel under Lake Boone Trail up to where it crosses Horton Street. Pavement resumes at Horton Street and continues for 0.6 of a mile. The last 0.2 miles to House Creek’s southern trailhead, where it Ts into Reedy Creek Trail, also is unpaved.

The vital connection House Creek makes between Raleigh’s two longest stretches of existing greenway isn’t the only reason to eagerly anticipate/drool over this stretch of trail. Though it’s always within earshot of busy I-440 — and frequently within eyeshot, especially in winter — it has stretches with a wild, escapist charm. Between Horton Street and Lake Boone Trail the greenway snuggles up to a rocky stretch of House Creek where exposed rock defines much of the creek bottom. Three stretches pass through forest dominated by cell-tower-straight poplars, there’s a nice passage through grassy Glen Eden Pilot Park and a surprising number of hills help House Creek avoid the monotony common to many greenways, which tend to follow floodplains. A nice escape for walkers, a challenging 6-mile out-and-back workout for runners, a good urban bike ride for families, considering there is only one street crossing (albeit a busy one, across Blue Ridge Road at the north end).

Another quick caveat: Tempting though it may be, do not access the House Creek Greenway by parking in the Ridgewood Shopping Center lot at Ridge Road and Wade Avenue, and picking up the new Ridge Road spur. Signs in the QR parking lot warn against greenway users using the lot; from what we’ve heard, there’s some bite behind those words. A better bet: park at the N.C. Museum of Art off Blue Ridge Road at Reedy Creek Road and take the Reedy Creek Trail east.

Again, that is, after the trail officially opens.
View House Creek Trail in a larger map

The post Update: House Creek Greenway 75 percent paved 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!.

Durham discovered the shortfall in July when it opened bids from eight contractors on the project, which also calls for about 4 miles of paved trail. The lowest bid, from Blythe Construction, came in at $7.75 million, about $2 million more than the $5.8 million — including $4.7 million in NCDOT funding — the city has allotted. The shortfall has discouraged and annoyed — but not surprised — regional greenway advocates and users: As far back as 2007 the city estimated the project could cost as much as $6.3 million.

Asked Wednesday how what options Durham might have to bridge the gap, project manager Byron Brady and Dale McKeel, the proactive coordinator of Durham’s bicycle and pedestrian program, both said they were “not at liberty to say.”

On the other side of the Triangle, however, Triangle greenways uber-advocate Sig Hutchinson was not so constrained.

Hutchinson believes the bridge could be bundled with pending greenway projects in Cary and Raleigh to qualify for federal TIGER 3 funds. TIGER 3 involves transportation-specific funds available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the federal program launched two years ago to help dig the economy out of a black hole. $20 million in TIGER 1 funds, for instance, helped Raleigh fast-track the 28-mile Neuse River Greenway, the initial 8 miles of which is scheduled to open in September. The entire project is scheduled to be completed in 2013.

“As soon as I heard about the Durham bridge, I called called Vic [Lebsock, Raleigh’s senior greenway planner] and Doug [McRainey, parks planner for the town of Cary] to see about Tiger 3,” Hutchinson said yesterday.

Among the various requirements for Tiger 3 funds, a project must already be designed and shovel ready — meaning construction can start within 30 days of receiving funds — and an application must include a minimum of $10 million in projects. Applicants must also have a minimum of 20 percent in matching funds. Raleigh and Cary both have at least one key project that can be thrown into the mix.

Raleigh: Thanks in part to those Tiger 1 funds, Raleigh is in the midst of a greenway construction boom. In addition to the 28-mile Neuse River Greenway, the city is building the 3-mile House Creek Greenway, which will link the 15-mile Reedy Creek/Rocky Branch/Umstead B&B trail system with the 11-mile Crabtree Creek Trail; the last 4-mile stretch of the Crabtree Creek Trail, which will link the existing 11 miles of greenway with the emerging Neuse Trail; and a 2.9-mile stretch of the Walnut Creek Greenway. That will lengthen Walnut Creek, which runs along the southern edge of Raleigh, to 6.7 miles, but still leave it a mile and a half short of connecting with the Neuse River Greenway. It’s that last 1.6-mile stretch that Raleigh would seek Tiger 3 funding for.

Cary: Cary’s White Oak Creek Greenway is 2 miles short of connecting with the American Tobacco Trail. That stretch has been problematic according to Doug McRainey, Cary parks planning manager, because it’s actually in Apex and Apex hasn’t expressed much interest in the project.

“It’s north of their population center,” says McRainey. Besides, Apex is pushing to make its own ATT connection along Beaver Creek to the south.

Cary sees the 2 miles as key to its own system because the ATT connection would make it possible to take the White Oak Creek Greenway to Bond Park, where travelers could pick up the Black Creek Greenway for the 7-mile trek on to Lake Crabtree. There 5 miles of trail in adjoining Umstead State Park links with Raleigh’s Reedy Creek Greenway.

The TIGER 3 application process encourages bundling of interrelated urban projects, which would seem to bode well for a Cary/Durham/Raleigh package. Boding not-as-well is the fact that part of the package — the White Oak Creek element — is more rural than TIGER 3 likes to see for its urban applications. McRainey says that partially derailed a joint application between Raleigh, Cary and Wake Forest, among others, for TIGER 2 funds. There’s also plenty of competition for the $527 million in TIGER 3 funds available, with upwards of 200 applications expected.

Still, among the options being openly discussed, it offers hope for a community teased with the prospect of a bridge over I-40 for more than a decade.

“It’s a potential solution,” says Hutchinson, who says the bridge plays a key roll in the development of a Trianglewide greenway network.

“It’s huge,” says Hutchinson. “When you start thinking about the missing links in the system, you’ve got that one, White Oak Creek, the quarry, Walnut Creek and the Neuse. Everything else is just spurs connecting to the grid.” Plug in these missing links, complete that grid and a formidable secondary transportation system will exist for non-motorized travelers in the Triangle.

Applicants have until October 31 to apply for TIGER 3 funds.

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Follow-up post: ‘Could a TIGER save Durham’s American Tobacco Trail Bridge?’

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