Three and a half miles of the Neuse River Trail is expected to open in August, another 8.7 miles in October and 7.0 more miles in November; coupled with the 6.5 miles opened last fall, the 28-mile greenway running along its namesake river from Falls Lake south to the Wake County line will be more than 90 percent done, at 26 miles. The entire trail, according to Raleigh greenway planner Vic Lebsock, should be done by mid-July 2013.

“We’re under construction, everything appears on target,” Lebsock said last week. “We don’t expect there will be delays of more than 30 days on any of [the sections].”

The Neuse River Trail is part of $35 million in Raleigh greenway construction currently underway that will add about 42 miles of pavement within two years.

The first 6.5-mile stretch of the Neuse River Trail, from the Falls Lake dam south to the WRAL Soccer Complex, opened last fall. When completed, it will link with 5 miles of greenway in Johnston County extending into Clayton. The resulting 33-mile greenway will be the longest in the state.

In August, 3.5 miles of Neuse River greenway will open between Anderson Point Park and Skycrest Drive to the north. (This stretch has existed since the 1990s as a gravel path.) In November, Lebsock says the 7.0-mile stretch from Skycrest north to U.S. 401 will open. Unfortunately, there’s a 1.2-mile gap between the north end of this trail and the first 6.5 miles of trail that opened in the fall, and that is the last stretch expected to open, next July.

Also expected to open in October is the 5.7-mile stretch from Auburn Knightdale Road south to the Wake County Line. That stretch will connected with the Johnston County greenway, creating a nearly 11-mile run into Clayton. North from Auburn Knightdale Road, the connection to Anderson Point will be made in two phases: a 3.0-mile run up to Poole Road that will open in October and the remaining 1.2 miles north from Poole Road, expected to open in February 2013. At that point, there will be 25.5 miles of continuous greenway uninterrupted by street crossings, from U.S. 401 south to Clayton.

What makes the eventual 33-mile run from Falls dam to Clayton all the more alluring is the fact there will be no street crossings to contend with. A series of bridges over the Neuse and smaller tributaries and passages under roads crossing the river will make for the longest unimpeded multi-use paved trail in the state.

The Neuse River Trail becomes even more significant as connections are made at Crabtree Creek and Walnut Creek.

• Walnut Creek: A stretch of connecting trail between existing greenway at Worthdale Park and New Hope Road to the east is expected to be begin construction within a month, the stretch from New Hope to the Neuse by mid-summer. The entire stretch should be done within a year, creating a 14-mile run along Walnut Creek from Lake Johnson to the Neuse River (pending completion, too, of connecting greenway through N.C. State’s Centennial Campus).
• Crabtree Creek: Currently, the Crabtree Creek Trail follows its namesake creek from just shy of Ebenezer Church Road downstream to Milburnie Road, a distance of 11 miles. The remaining 4.6 miles from Milburnie to the Neuse River Trail should go out to bid this fall, with completion targeted for late 2013 or early 2014. That connection, plus the nearing completion of the House Creek Greenway, would make it possible to take greenway from the Neuse Trail on the east side of Raleigh through Umstead State Park, into Cary and nearly to the American Tobacco Trail. Construction on the last remaining link of the ATT — a pedestrian bridge over I-40 and a little more than a mile of connecting greenway — is set to begin this summer after prolonged delays. When completed, the 22-mile ATT will link western Wake County with downtown Durham.

Unrelated to the Neuse River Trail and its east/west connectors, the 5.67-mile Honeycutt Trail is scheduled to go to bid in May, begin construction mid-summer. That trail will link existing greenway heading north from the Crabtree Creek Trail and around Shelley Lake north to the Mountains-to-Sea trail along the south shore of Falls Lake.

The Growing Greenway

View Raleigh Greenways in a larger map

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A week’s worth of Triangle greenways

Thursday, April 12: House Creek Greenway to Open June 25 (read: Memorial Day).

Monday, April 16: 90 Second Escape: The Triangle’s Growing Greenway System.

Today: Neuse River Trail: Another 3.5 miles by August, 16.1 miles by November.

Tomorrow: Within two years, Raleigh will have more than 110 miles of mostly interconnected greenway. What happens from there? A conversation about the future with the man who’s been overseeing the growth, Raleigh greenway planner Vic Lebsock.

Friday: The Triangle’s greenway system in two years, and beyond.

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The post Raleigh’s Neuse River Trail: Another 3.5 miles by August, 16.1 miles by November 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?’

The post Could a TIGER save Durham’s American Tobacco Trail bridge? appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

Since 1993 we’ve been setting aside the first Saturday in June to celebrate the nation’s more than 200,000 miles of trail. Throughout the year, our trails give us so much: a place to run, a place to ride, a place to escape to our thoughts. It’s only fitting that we set aside one day to give something back.

According to the American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day Web site, there are currently 23 events scheduled in North Carolina. I’ve include the list by location below; just click on the event and it will take you to the event-specific NTD site where you’ll find the what, the when, the where, the whatever (“whatever” including whatever incentives and enticements may be involved).

Incentives? Enticements?

Sure. For example, if you attend the Carolina Mountain Club’s workday on the MST along the Blue Ridge Parkway, you could win door prizes offered by the Mast General Store and the American Hiking Society. Pitch in at Blue Jay Point County Park and sponsor REI will provide water, snacks and lunch.

You could discover something new on NTD as well — like Carvers Creek State Park.

Carvers Creek State Park?

Carvers Creek State Park, a park-in-the-making near Fayetteville that will be the North Carolina’s 36th state park and eventually include more than 4,000 acres. Help build trail at the park from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., then get a sneak peak of the property, not yet open for public exploration, on a ranger-led hike.

Not all NTD events involve rolling up your sleeves and and waking up Sunday with a sore back. In Greensboro, there’s an NTD Festival at Bur-Mil Park that includes geocaching, hikes, kayak demonstrations, bike clinics and rides, a vendor fair, live music, and a 5k trail run. In Lexington, you can hike or paddle Abbotts Creek and get an education in water quality. And in Black Mountain, you can explore this very cool town on a hike of their greenways.

Get out your calendar and make a date with a beloved trail for this Saturday, June 4. As an added perk: you needn’t bring flowers for this date. They’re already there.

Know of an National Trails Day event not on our list? Fill us in and we’ll add it to the list.

Mountains

Appalachian Trail Conservancy
Invasive Plant Removal
Robbinsville

Black Mountain Greenways Commission
Greenway Walk
Black Mountain

Carolina Mountain Club
MST Trail Building Work Day
Asheville

Carolina Mountain Club
MST Trail Construction
Waynesville

Friends of Panthertown, Inc.
Panthertown Valley Hike with Friends of Panthertown
Cashiers

Grandfather Mountain State Park
Grandfather Mountain State Park
Banner Elk

Jackson County Recreation/Parks Department
Breakfast at Pinnacle
Sylva

Montreat Conference Center
Trail Work
Montreat

The Swag Country Inn
Celebrate National Trails Day at The Swag
Waynesville

Piedmont

Alamance County Recreation and Parks
National Trails Day Hike
Elon

High Rock Outfitters, City of Lexington and Piedmont Triad COG
Finch Park Trails Day
Lexington

Historic Gold Hill and Mines Foundation, Inc.
Gold Hill Rail Trail Hike
Gold Hill

Yadkin River Greenway Council/Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail
Yadkin River Bank and Trails Cleanup
North Wilkesboro

Charlotte

Reedy Creek Nature Center
Reedy Creek Trail Days
Charlotte

Fayetteville

Carvers Creek State Park
Carvers Creek- National Trails Day
Fayetteville

Triad

City of Greensboro
National Trails Day Festival
Greensboro

Triangle

Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Department
Grand Opening Morgan Creek Trail
Chapel Hill

FMST – Falls Lake
Falls Lake MST Workday
Raleigh

Friends of The Mountains To Sea Trail, Eno River Section
Eno River State Park Trail Construction and Maintenance
Durham

Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve
NTD Volunteer Workday
Cary

REI-Raleigh
Blue Jay Point County Park Trail Re-Route
Raleigh

Triangle Greenways Council
Walnut Creek Greenway Hike
Raleigh

Coast

Friends of Mackay Island, Inc.
Name the Eagle
Knotts Island, NC

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