curt's blog

Deep River Rail Trail Receives Clean Water Grant for Conservation Easement

Franklinville’s greenway will soon be a little greener thanks to a $101,000 grant to purchase a conservation easement on 38 acres of land, mostly between the three-quarter-mile-long trail and the Deep River. The project was one of five in the eastern Piedmont that will receive funding through the state Clean Water Management Trust Fund (CWMTF). In August, town board members approved a resolution to support submission of an application by Randolph County for a U.S. Department of Transportation planning grant to study extending a 3/4-mile long section of the Deep River Rail-Trail west to the Guilford County line. The planning grant would provide planning, outreach and design for a 17-mile section of trail — along the abandoned railbed of the Atlantic & Yadkin Railroad — through the Cedar Falls community to Providence Grove High School and the county line. For more on the Deep River Rail Trail see the October 12th Courier Tribune article.

NCRT Votes to Support Proposed Active Community Transportation Act (ACTA)

At their recent Annual Meeting on October 9th, NCRT's Board of Directors voted to reach out to North Carolina's representatives in Congress to sign on as co-sponsors of H.R. 4722, the Active Community Transportation Act (“ACT Act”) of 2010. This is a marker bill to be incorporated into the federal transportation reauthorization when passed by Congress and will provide communities with concentrated investments to complete walking and bicycling networks to shift short driving trips to active transportation. By providing communities with the resources needed to build safe and connected non-motorized routes between the places where people live, work, learn, play and shop, the bill will provide cost-effective transportation choices for millions of Americans. The act authorizes a competitive grant program at the U.S. DOT averaging $400 million/year for projects which would shift trips to bicycling and walking. The ACT act enjoys broad support and attracted 60 House signatures (including representatives Kissel, Price and Miller from NC) in the first four months since it's introduction in March 2010. For more on the expected impact and benefits of the ACT Act please see an informative flyer prepared by RTC. Also useful is a Fact Sheet on how the grant program would work.

Rail-Trail Corridor in Marion Finally Acquired

After years of negotiations with Norfolk Southern, City officials in Marion recenly announced the old Peavine railroad corridor is now City property. The tracks were removed in 2007. The City is making arrangements to designate some parking spaces for trail users and expects to open the trail for walking and cycling in the next few weeks. For more on the Peavine please see the article in the McDowell News.

Possible Extensions for Atlantic and Yadkin Greenway

In late August, the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Greensboro metro area unanimously agreed to extend the Atlantic & Yadkin Greenway from its current end at U.S. 220 in Summerfield northwest across the county through Stokesdale. The new pact says the governments of Greensboro, Guilford County, Summerfield and Stokesdale will cooperate on a feasibility study of the extension in partnership with State environmental officials and such nonprofit groups as the Piedmont Land Conservancy and the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Planners are starting from scratch with only a general idea that the greenway should follow — where possible — the course of the former Atlantic & Yadkin rail line to Stokesdale, said Peggy Holland, coordinator of Greensboro’s bicycle and pedestrian program. Beyond that, the “A&Y” could go north to Rockingham County or west to Forsyth County, Holland said. It might also include spurs for mountain biking and horseback riding. “That’s the sort of thing we’ll consider in the feasibility study,” she said, adding the first step likely will be public meetings to gather comments. For a small map depicting the possible route and further details please see the 8/26 article in the Greensboro newsrecord.com. Click here for a larger map in PDF format

Federal Fund Recissions Point to Large Cuts In Transportation Enhancement Funds in North Carolina

In August the Rails to Trails Conservancy reported on an intended move by the Federal government to rescind (i.e. pull back and not spend) the use of some $2.2 billion of unspent transportation funds. They now report that these recissions are in fact happening. In North Carolina it appears that the State has proposed a disproportionately large reduction to funds associated with Transportation Enhancement (TE). While TE funds represented about 2.4% of North Carolina's total transportation allocation, the State has  proposed cutting TE funds some 31.7% as part of their recission. TE funds are the nation’s largest funding source for trails, both walking and bicycling and have been used for rail corridor preservation and numerous rail-trail projects over the years. If you believe these cuts to North Carolina's TE program are not what you want our State to carry out, please feel free to contact Governor Perdue and Transportation Secretary Gene Conti. Some suggestions on what you might want to say are contained in a recent RTC Alert .

Henderson County Authorizes Impact Study of Proposed Rail Trail

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners has shown real vision in calling for an economic impact study of creating a trail on the unused rail line between Hendersonville and Brevard. In an editorial in Blue Ridge Now.com , the Editors make a strong case for the economic and community benefits of a long regional trail and for Federal railbanking of this 18.5 mile "Ecusta" corridor so that it can be preserved for future use as a trail or could be returned to future to use as a rail corridor if needed. “We believe that the development of a trail like this would be an important investment in the future of our region, and will provide numerous benefits for our residents and visitors,” said Chris Burns, treasurer of the group, and a past president of the Hendersonville Chamber of Commerce. “The Friends of Ecusta Trail will also focus on other opportunities to connect our communities, and recently participated in a work day to help complete the Estatoe Trail in Pisgah Forest, which connects Brevard’s hike/bike path to the Art Loeb Trail.” More detailed information about the project, as well as information about how community supporters can be more involved can be found on the group's new web site. A September 29th article from Blue Ridge Now.com tells more about the site and current efforts. The opening of the 5.5 mile Estatoe Trail on October 15th is reported in an October 16th article in Blue Ridge Now.com. More information on the trail and the Friends Group can be found in our  July 2010 and May 2009 News Archives and by scrolling down to Rail-Trail Initiatives on our Trails and Projects page.

West Pender Rail Trail Alliance Moving Forward and Will Submit Non-Profit Application Soon

As reported in July, the Alliance is now incorporated as a non-profit. Funds raised at the June 19th Blueberry Festival were used for the incorporation fees, and professional services related to applying to the IRS for designation as a Section 501 (c)(3) corporation. Their application will be submitted later in September. The Alliance has applied for a few grants and has feedback that they may receive a National Park Service planning grant. This would provide the Alliance with a NPS Trail Planner for 1 year. The West Pender rail-trail project was one of seven park projects that made it into the Pender County Parks and Rec five-year comprehensive plan and is supported by resolution in several other local and regional plans. Pender County has dedicated about one mile of trail land in their new Industrial Park and the plan includes a trailhead with facilities. This will be the Alliance's first mile and they are focusing on developing it as a visible first step over the next year. Over the next year they plan to work with the National Parks planner to develop a land acquisition strategy. Earlier this month, the co-founder of the Alliance, Dave Staebler, was presented with a golden Spike award by NCRT for his long service in land research, presentations and a host of tasks related to promoting rail-trail development in Pender County. Dave is moving from NC and AL Capehart presented the award to Dave on September 2. For additional background on rail-trail plans and documentation for this project, please see the 2007-09 report on the Atlantic-Seaboard Coast Line corridor compiled by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and the recently completed Concept Plan. For information on future activities of the Alliance please contact Susan Bullers.

Celebrations Scheduled for Seven Carolina Thread Trails

Starting on September 15, seven Carolina Thread Trail communities will host “Marking The Thread” celebrations in North and South Carolina as local leaders officially unveil the newly-marked trails. Attendees will experience the new trails and greenways that will ultimately weave throughout 15 counties and connect more than 2 million people. The Thread offers a growing network of trails and conservation corridors for walking, biking, commuting, fishing, paddling and simply enjoying. Counties and towns design and own the trails that enrich communities in the areas of health and wellness, economic development, land preservation and community collaboration. Of the 15 counties in The Thread region, eight have fully-adopted master plans, four are in the active planning stages and three are engaged in the citizen outreach phase. To date, counties with adopted plans have identified 874 miles of planned trails and more than 63 miles of trails are now open for public enjoyment. The Cloninger Trail and South Fork River Trail in Lincoln County, the Highland Rail-Trail in Gastonia and the Oakboro Rail-With-Trail in Stanly County are on rail corridors and are now part of the growing Thread initiative. See below for the dates of the celebrations. For more information, please visit carolinathreadtrail.org

September 18

Lincolnton - Lincoln County, NC

Oakboro - Stanly County, NC

Baxter Village - York County, SC

Landsford Canal - Chester County, SC

September 19

Broad River - Cleveland County, NC

September 25

Davidson - Mecklenburg County, NC

October 9

Nation Ford - York County, SC

Carolina Thread Trail --Receives Clean Water Grant and Sees New Segment Soon in Albemarle

The North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund (CWMTF) has awarded the Carolina Thread Trail $1 million for permanent land conservation and trails along regional waterways as part of its 2010 grant allocation. The funds will be used to support local communities as they acquire land for trail segments along waterways throughout the 11 North Carolina counties within The Thread’s 15-county footprint. See the CTT release for details.

In Albemarle, the Parks & Recreation Dept. reports that construction of a new section of the CTT is moving forward and should be open by early 2011. Please contact Toby Thorpe at Parks & Recreation for updates, opening information.

Durham Urged to Use Earmark Funds for Rail Corridor Soon

In late July, Durham received a letter from Congressman David Price urging them to take prompt action to obligate $2 million appropriated in 2005 for preservation of a rail corridor. At that time Durham was negotiating with Norfolk-Southern (NSC) for a short corridor commonly referred to as the beltline. Those talks broke down but NSC has recently indicated it is interested in renewing discussions about at least a portion of the beltline. The urgency arises because the House has passed a bill seeking to rescind some $713 million in old, unspent funds for transportation. While these corridor funds are not included, Price's staff believe other unspent earmarks may also be vulnerable to recission. For a fuller discussion, please see the recent Herald-Sun article.