curt's blog
Deep River Rail-Trail Acquires Land
On October 4th, 2011 the Town of Ramseur voted to acquire a 20' wide corridor along the river which will allow the Deep River Rail-Trail to be extended by 1165'. Funding to support this acquisition came from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund. Long-term visions for the trail sees it as connecting small towns and communities, allowing citizens a place to walk, ride bicycles, jog or just enjoy a family outing. Ramseur and Franklinton have been pursuing grant monies and conducting workdays for several years to make the trail a reality. The first phase of the trail extends from Brooklyn Avenue to U.S. 64 East, a distance of ~1.25 miles. Please see our Map and Directions for the trail to learn more on access.
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Officials Reach Agreement on Supplemental Funding for ATT Phase E Projects
In a September 14th meeting, the Durham-Orange Transportation Advisory Committee considered several options for additional funding and have opted to use ~3.5 million$ from a reserve fund which had been set aside to cover cost overruns, small and county transportation projects, and initiatives for Triangle Transit. An earlier proposal to reallocate funds that had been set aside for future sidewalks in Durham was turned down after serious concerns expressed by Durham representatives. Officials from the two counties agreed it made sense to use the reserve given that the tobacco trail’s completion has been threatened by a budget shortfall. “It’s a regional project that affects the central part of the State, and we need to move forward,” Durham City Councilman Mike Woodard said, after Mayor Bill Bell and Councilwoman Diane Catotti had also signaled support for using the money. The decision must now be approved by the Durham/Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization. Some changes to the specifications for the bridge are being considered such as allowing the contractor to have 18 rather than 9 months to assemble components for the bridge. No date has been set for start of the second bidding but if MPO approval can be settled in 30-60 days this could happen by the first of the year. It now appears construction will not start until sometime in the Spring. For more detail on the meeting please see the September 15th Herald-Sun article.
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Public Workshops for Croatan Bicycle Plan and Trails Plan
The counties of Carteret, Craven, Jones, Onslow, and Pamlico (and local municipalities) invite area residents to attend any of four public open house workshops for the Croatan Regional Trails Plan and the Croatan Regional Bicycle Plan. The Workshops will utilize an open house format; workshops will be held in Jacksonville and Beaufort on September 13th, in New Bern on the 14th and in Grantsboro on the 15th. Please see their Flyer for the specifics on addresses and times.
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NC DOT Survey on Transportation Priorities
This survey asks respondents to identify priorities for transportation investments, and requests input on funding. You can find it at a link to the online version: https://www.ncdot.gov/performance/reform/2040Plan/.
Please share the survey with your employees, friends, family, clients, members - anyone and everyone. The survey will close on September 30, 2011 at midnight.
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Volunteers Perform Clean-Up of Libba-Cotten Trail in Carrboro
Staff from the NC Institute of Public Health adopted the Libba-Cotten Trail about 3 years ago and invite workers to join the clean-up 3-4 times per year. On August 15th they held a workday to sweep and otherwise clean up the trail. The dozen or so participants did a fine job and received thanks and "right-ons" from numerous trail users. Here are pictures of the volunteers, picking up trash, sweeping and generally enjoying themselves.
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Durham Plans to Push Forward with Bridge for American Tobacco Trail--Updated 8/16 & 8/30
Durham has received and reviewed the bids for completing the ATT in Durham County. The lowest bid totaled some $7.7 million, ~2million more than cost estimates and funding currently available for the project. The City Manager and top staff are examining options to allow the bridge over I-40 and trail sections connecting the bridge to be contracted for soon with the balance to be done in a later phase starting in 2012. Additional funding from Durham may be obtained from dollars currently budgeted for sidewalks and greenways. Other funding from non-highway projects requested by the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro MPO will also be explored. Coordination of such arrangements with NC DOT will be needed as well as approval by the City Council. An award date for the contract has not been estimated but could occur by October. For more background on this long running project please see Jim Wise's article in the News & Observer and a Durham Herald-Sun article on August 6th.
Since August 6th, NC DOT has decided that Durham must rebid the project. We understand that the construction drawings will have to be broken out into two documents (for each phase), and each will have to be approved by NCDOT again before bidding can start. Tentatively one phase/project will be the bridge itself as well as the trail from NC54 to Renaissance (the approaches), and the other phase/project would be the rest of the trail. This breakout is tentative and may change as the construction drawings are revised. For more on these more recent events please see this August 10th Herald-Sun article and a short piece from the the N & O's Bullseye Blog. Further status info can be found on the City's page on the American Tobacco Trail Project.
Late August News on Possible Re-Programming of Sidewalk and Other Durham Funding
In late August, Durham City staff announced pending efforts to shift ~$3.8 Million from four Durham sidewalk projects to the Phase E project for the ATT. This shift must be approved by the Durham-Chapel Hill/Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization as well as Durham's City Council. Further detail on this proposal can be found in a August 22 article in the Herald-Sun. On August 28th a member of a key advisory board says Durham officials need to look harder at why the bids for an extension of the American Tobacco Trail came in about 38 percent higher than expected. Please see the August 28th Herald-Sun article for more on this issue.
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Fundraiser for Elkin Valley Trails Association -- August 8th
The EVTA will be the beneficiary of a night of Jump Blues at Harry's Place in downton Elkin. Shows will start at 6:30 and 8:30pm. Come and go as you please all night. Admission: $10 (Suggested Donation to Elkin Valley Trails Association) Kids with parents Free! Hamburgers, Shrimp and Cold Beverages available for purchase! The Association's first major project is to create a hiking/biking trail which follows the route of the former Elkin and Alleghany Railroad from Downtown Elkin to the City Reservoir and then to points north to Stone Mountain where it will connect with the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. This will become a primary route of the NC Mountains-to-Sea Trail, a state linear park and the premier hiking trail of North Carolina. Elkin will be one of the few towns that the MTS Trail passes through and this segment will come right down Main Street!
Please contact the Association to donate your time, money and energy to make trails and greenways a reality in the Elkin Valley region. Bill Blackley, serves as the Coordinator of the Elkin Valley Trails Association. He can be reached by mail, phone or Email as follows:
Mailing Address: 105 Knollwood Drive Elkin, NC 28621
Phone: 336.835.4630
Email: wjblackley@gmail.com
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Iredell County Adopts Carolina Thread Trail Master Plan
Iredell County is the tenth county within the 15 county region to adopt a Master Plan for The Thread. The Master Plan provides a long-term vision for the development of trails and greenways within the county. Together, these trails will create a comprehensive, multi-use,network for connecting people, natural areas and regional points of interest. The 1 mile Troutman rail-trail is included in this plan. For more on The Thread, please see the Carolina Thread Trail web site.
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New Report on Economic Benefits of Cycling Projects
Recently we came across a new study documenting the economic pay back from a sample of mostly urban cycling projects. This report presents data that many in the rail-trail community have known or at least believed for years: cycling projects often generate local spending by cyclists which is recurrent and has a bigger pay back than road projects of equal cost. Please see this link to the article for a fuller discussion of the findings.
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Grant Awarded for Bicycle Planning in Washington
In late May, the NCDOT notified the Town of Washington of their award of a $28,000 Bicycle & Pedestrian Planning grant. This grant will allow to allow the Town to hire a consultant to develop a plan for bicycling resources and facilities in Washington. This municipal plan is a required first step before funding for extended connections can be requested. A portion of Washington's plan will include the Washington-Greenville greenway project (much of which is a former rail corridor). NC Rail-Trails has been providing encouragement and support to this project since 1994 and takes some pride in the award as we assisted in preparing and submitting this most recent application. The Town is now preparing a Municipal Reimbursement Agreement and expects to have a consulting firm on-board this Summer. For area residents interested in more on this project please contact Philip Mobley.
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