August 2010

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.