Cary's Black Creek Greenway under construction at Castalia Drive.
“Hey,” I said interrupting whatever it was we were talking about. “That’s the Black Creek Greenway, isn’t it?”
Why I hadn’t noticed the bulldozer busy at work just beyond the Cycle Surgeon’s property line, I’m not sure because this was the fifth time in less than a week that I’d been at the Surgeon’s Cary garage as he patiently tried piecing together the bike I was borrowing after I’d broken the frame on mine. “I don’t want to spend a lot to get it running,” I’d say every time I brought the newly broken loaner in. Then, noting I have a race this Sunday, I’d add, “And I need it immediately.”
Matt Lodder, a k a the Cycle Surgeon, confirmed that it was indeed the vital last link in the Black Creek Greenway, a vital link between Umstead State Park and Raleigh’s 69-mile greenway network and Cary’s White Oak Creek Greenway, which is close to connecting to the American Tobacco Trail, which is close to connecting to downtown Durham.
“They sent us a letter in March saying they were going to start construction and that it would be done by the end of the year,” Matt said.
When finished, the Black Creek Greenway will run 5.6 miles, from Lake Crabtree County Park to the northeast to Cary’s Bond Park, just over a half mile to the west. Five miles of the greenway is complete; the remaining 0.6 of a mile is what is currently under construction. That stretch includes, according to the Town of Cary Web site:read more
Oh, the places you'll go on the Triangle's greenways come 2014.
For the past week, we’ve been looking at the current explosive growth of the Raleigh greenway system: $35 million to add about 45 miles of greenway. By 2014, Raleigh should have about 116 miles of greenway, with new, vital links along the Neuse River, Crabtree Creek, Walnut Creek, House Creek and Honeycutt Creek.read more
The Neuse River Trail: Backbone of Raleigh's greenway system.
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.read more
In the 1990s, the 2.3-mile Black Creek Greenway — running from Lake Crabtree south to West Dynasty Drive — was the crown jewel of Triangle greenways. Today, the still-popular greenway has expanded to nearly its entire, planned 7-plus-mile length. A crucial 1.4-mile connection earlier this month from Chapel Hill Road at NW Maynard Street to SW Maynard near High House Road means there’s only about a half mile of uncompleted trail, and that stretch is easily circumvented, for now, with sidewalks and neighborhood streets.read more
The Triangle’s greenway system is a tiny step closer to becoming a complete network.
Joe Godfrey, parks planner with the Town of Cary, tells GGNC that a 1.3-mile missing link of the Black Creek Greenway should be finished mid-April. The stretch would extend the existing 5.6 miles of Black Creek Greenway running south from Lake Crabtree to Chapel Hill Road on to Maynard Road. A short stretch of the sidewalk/greenway will run alongside Maynard before it crosses High House Road. From there, Godfrey says another short missing link should begin construction soon and will link with existing greenway into the heart of Bond Park.read more
