curt's blog

The Town of Franklinville has been awarded a grant of $10,000 from Central Park NC and will use a significant portion of it to extend Franklinville's Deep River Rail-Trail eastward, to add facilities for a canoe/kayak put-in and to help with preparations for a future section of the rail-trail. Work on the trail extension will begin this summer.

Central Park NC is a non-profit organization whose mission is to support economic development of small towns in central North Carolina, with a focus on heritage and cultural tourism and the infrastructure to support overnight tourism.

On May 26th, the Conservation Trust of North Carolina presented AL Capehart, a founder and Board member of North Carolina Rail-Trails, with a well deserved award for over twenty-five years of advocacy for rail-trails in the state. As described in the Trust's announcement: "AL Capehart launched a personal crusade to educate local and state governments on the value of preserving the Triangle region’s surplus railroad corridors in 1985. His efforts materialized into an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization called North Carolina Rail-Trails (NCRT). NCRT educates the public, government officials and citizen groups about the importance of railroad corridor preservation to connect communities with public trails, bikeways, and greenways for active transportation and healthy recreational options. With the assistance of like-minded volunteers, AL’s persistent efforts, energy and vision have resulted in 17 rail-trails, three developing rail-trail projects, and two initiatives and studies for rail-trails. In addition to his commitment to NCRT, AL spearheaded the NCRT Land Trust, first developed in 1995. In 1999, the NCRT Land Trust entered into North Carolina’s first federal 8(d) railbank agreement with Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad (Dunn-Erwin Railway) in Harnett County. The Dunn-Erwin (Rail) Trail has become a community connector as an essential source of Harnett County’s health and pride." The award was presented by John Morck, NCRT's current Chair. Click HERE to see pictures of the other awardees.

On June 19th, the Cape Fear Cyclists will sponsor 21 and 33 mile rides from Burgaw. Proceeds will benefit the West Pender Rail Trail Alliance in their advocacy efforts for establishing a rail-trail that might ultimately connect Wilmington to Fayetteville, much of it on an abandoned rail line. The West Pender group has initiated a request to obtain status as a non-profit organization.

Our latest newsletter is available HERE. Those who have requested Email delivery should be receiving it soon. Those requesting hard copies should expect their copy by June 1st.  Contents include an interesting story of a family's 90 mile cycling vacation on the C & O Canal trail, a profile of our newest Board Member, and updates on a number of rail-trail efforts around the State. Also note we have updated our Trails & Projects section with status updates and some new images. If you would like to receive an Email announcement of the latest newsletter, please click on a link to the Little Toot mailing list.

Citizens in Belmont have petitioned the City to create a rail-trail on an unused 1.63 mile section of the P&N railroad. It appears that NCDOT's Rail Division will play a key role in this process since DOT owns this section as part of a 1991 purchase of the idle portion of the P&N Railroad. DOT bought this idle portion to preserve it for future transportation use and currently is completing efforts to allow future rail service from Gastonia to Ranlo. For more on this evolving story please see the article in the Gaston Gazette.

Chatham County and the City of Cary will hold a Grand Opening of the 4.7 mile Chatham section on Saturday June 5th from 10 to noon at the Pittard Sears Road access. (The rain date and time is Sunday, June 6th from 2 to 4.) The event will be held along the trail south of Pittard Sears towards the Panther Creek bridge. Parking will be along Pittard Sears Road and in a nearby development being constructed on the west side of the trail at this intersection. All trail users are invited. The event will include refreshments and remarks by TRTC and local and State staff who worked to make this section happen. AL Capehart of NCRT, who has long advocated for the ATT and was instrumental in getting support for the 1992 Master Plan, will also participate. Information tables/booths by groups are encouraged. For further information please contact Cary's Festival Coordinator Joy Ennis.

Members of the  West Pender Rail Trail Alliance (WPRTA) are continuing their efforts to organize for long-term advocacy and active support for a rail-trail on the old Atlantic Coast Line corridor from Wilmington to the Moore's Creek Battleground area in Pender County. The Alliance is continuing to work with Pender County Tourism and Travel and have made contact with a substantial number of property owners to assess their attitudes towards creation of a rail-trail. During January and February Pender County surveyed County residents and held a series of 6 public meetings to collect public input for a Comprehensive Parks & Recreation Master Plan. WPRTA members were able to offer passioned support for the proposed rail-trail at these meetings. At the group's early April meeting a decision was reached to seek IRS designation as a non-profit organization under section 501(c)(3). Once designated, this will allow all donations to the group to be tax deductible. At present, the Alliance has limited resources but is seeking donations to allow them to continue their advocacy efforts with County governments and local citizens and to help pay for gaining this designation. Donations to WPRTA to help pay for these efforts should be mailed to: 

Don Eggert, WPRTA Treasurer

Cape Fear COG

1480 Harbor Dr.

Wilmington, NC  28401

On March 2, 2010, U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) introduced H.R. 4722, the "Active Community Transportation Act of 2010" (ACT Act). If enacted, the ACT Act  would create a $2 billion program to fund dozens of communities around the country to improve their trail, walking and biking networks. The ACT Act would establish a competitive active transportation investment fund to invest in walking and bicycling improvements in targeted communities around the country. These resources would enable communities to build interconnected systems—allowing people to travel between the places they work, live, play, learn and shop without needing car. Successful proposals will be those making the best case for resources to shift large numbers of trips from driving to walking and bicycling. While not specifically focused on rail-trails, funds from this Act could support the linkage of greenways and rail-trails. For more on this Bill, please see article on the RTC site.

From time to time we like to pass on news of bicycle rides and other active events that may be of interest to the rail-trail community. The Gears and Cheers ride on May 22 offers 25, 40 and 62 mile rides through the rolling countryside of Guilford, Rockingham and Caswell Counties. The ride begins and ends at the winery located north of Elon on the Haw River Wine Trail and features historic Chinqua Penn Plantation on the 40-mi route. Proceeds from the event will go to the MS Society.

An official ribbon cutting of the first completed section (~4 miles) of the Downtown Greenway will be held at 4pm on March 24th. The ribbon will be cut near the intersection of Bragg and Eugene Street, approximately 1/8 mile west from South Eugene Street beside the two large trees at the midway point on the trail. Progress also continues on the Battleground Rail-Trail (BRT), a one mile extension of the Greenway which runs through the Battleground toward Downtown and will form the western leg of the Downtown Greenway. Please see our trails & projects page for background on the BRT.

{UPDATE: Please see the 3/25 Greensboro News-Record and the Downtown Greenway site for more on the project including links to surveys where you can provide input on plans for the project.}

{UPDATE: April 16th--As part of the expansion of the Greensboro greenways, the City has developed a new logo to properly recognize that portions of the City's rail-trail are on a corridor from the Atlantic and Yadkin railroad. The Downtown Greenway and Battleground Rail-Trail will be subsumed into the Atlantic & Yadkin Greenway. Click HERE to see the new logo.