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Charlotte Greenway Trails

CharlotteDave

By CharlotteDave
in Charlotte

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ah59396 Town

ah59396

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Never living in another city as an adult, I've really enjoyed my month in Seattle so far in this regard.  I can't say enough about how much of a joy it is to have a well integrated greenway system, including appropriate connections, safe barriers and signage.  

Even better, my wife is enjoying it.  She was always timid on our limited bike lanes in Charlotte and felt uncomfortable, but is much more willing to hop on her bike and ride here.  Makes me wonder how many others in Charlotte are waiting for the same.  I wish Charlotte would pour more money into greenway/cycling infrastructure.

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UPNoDa Whistle-Stop

UPNoDa

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I'm jealous of your Seattle relo and tbh, we're missing out on a WHOLE lot more than just a nice greenway infrastructure here in the queen city. 

Also....Good luck and Please Please Please do not become an irate Seahawks fan!!:tw_grimace:

#CP4L

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ah59396 Town

ah59396

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2 hours ago, UPNoDa said:

I'm jealous of your Seattle relo and tbh, we're missing out on a WHOLE lot more than just a nice greenway infrastructure here in the queen city. 

Also....Good luck and Please Please Please do not become an irate Seahawks fan!!:tw_grimace:

#CP4L

Oh don't worry.  I'm totally that out of town guy rocking my Panther hat, annoying the locals.

Wouldn't mind getting my hands on some of Russel Wilson's magic water though.

#Panthersforever.  2017-2018 projection:

 

16-0

 

 

In order to keep this on topic though, Seattle has found some inventive ways to "create" bike lanes where they would otherwise be challenging to install.

I found this design, NW 45th Ave in Ballard, to be pretty inventive.  The avenue was one lane in each direction, but not arterial or absolutely necessary.

The city dropped it down to a one-way, and turned the other lane into a two-way bike route: (see crude rendering)

45thmockup-575x272.png

 

Simple, cheap, and effective.  Seems like CLT has more than a few candidates for a project like this.

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grodney Town

grodney

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9 hours ago, ah59396 said:

 

I found this design, NW 45th Ave in Ballard, to be pretty inventive.  The avenue was one lane in each direction, but not arterial or absolutely necessary.

The city dropped it down to a one-way, and turned the other lane into a two-way bike route: (see crude rendering)

45thmockup-575x272.png

 

 

Street View: https://goo.gl/maps/Mjeg3VW9Pi12

 

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ah59396 Town

ah59396

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52 minutes ago, grodney said:

Street View: https://goo.gl/maps/Mjeg3VW9Pi12

 

Yep, that's it.  It's actually a temporary solution while they work to find a long term connection.  Aka "The missing link" on the Burke-Gilman Trail.

I think it'd be a wonderful solution on Central Avenue...not only between 7th and 10th to connect the greenway over Independence, but further down Central through PM.

If the city is serious about turning PM into a great livable neighborhood, Central needs traffic calming anyways.  I rode Central all the time anyways, slowing traffic.  It'd be nice to do it without the threat of imminent death.

 

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caterpillar2 Hamlet

caterpillar2

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53 minutes ago, elrodvt said:

Given all the talk for 2-3 years now and no action I think it is safe to say the city has little to no interest in pedestrian or bike travel especially if they have any negative impact on cars. Prove me wrong!

The city has no interest MLS or greenways, but if $100 million were needed for basketball arena improvements, no probs. 

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ajfunder Hamlet

ajfunder

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Well we at least have our first mini cycle track on 12th which I had the pleasure of using the other day. It even has its own signals which is a fantastic step and it makes getting from the rail trail to Brevard so much safer and easier. Would love to see a cycle track on Belmont which would connect the rail trail to the Little Sugar Creek Greenway.

Also really looking forward to the 5th/6th street cycle track.

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kermit Metropolitan Area

kermit

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43 minutes ago, Dale said:

To be fair, our greenway system is superior to any I've seen in my fairly extensive travels.

And my out-of-town guests are typically wowed by it.

I dunno. We have some nice segments of paths but each has some serious flaws. The gold-plated segments of the urban portion of LSC are marred by narrow underpasses and hairpin bridge bottlenecks. The Rail Trail is convenient to thousands or residents but is well over capacity. The biggest flaw however is our lack of connectivity between greenway segments. Hopefully this can get remedied quickly and it sounds like the 12th street track is a good start on stitching together a true network.

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CLT2014 Town

CLT2014

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It could be worse, the Greenways in the area I'm from in Orange County, CA is basically a giant homeless camp now. Sometimes while you bike through they try to stop you and chase you with needles. This camp extends a couple miles along the trail. So I guess we can count our blessings in CLT that the greenways are at least pretty clean!

 

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caterpillar2 Hamlet

caterpillar2

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1 hour ago, CLT2014 said:

It could be worse, the Greenways in the area I'm from in Orange County, CA is basically a giant homeless camp now. Sometimes while you bike through they try to stop you and chase you with needles. This camp extends a couple miles along the trail. So I guess we can count our blessings in CLT that the greenways are at least pretty clean!

 

They could certainly learn a thing or two from the homeless in San Francisco. They have very impressively decorated cardboard boxes there and even have garage sales. Most have their own little areas and some are even there long enough to know the neighbors. I was impressed when my son and I walked by one near Market St. and they knew each other by name as my son often drops off a sandwich or a bagel. Pretty cool as far as that sort of thing is concerned. 

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SgtCampsalot Town

SgtCampsalot

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5 hours ago, caterpillar2 said:

They could certainly learn a thing or two from the homeless in San Francisco. They have very impressively decorated cardboard boxes there and even have garage sales. Most have their own little areas and some are even there long enough to know the neighbors. I was impressed when my son and I walked by one near Market St. and they knew each other by name as my son often drops off a sandwich or a bagel. Pretty cool as far as that sort of thing is concerned. 

Interesting that homelessness is a product of a bad economic system but also there should be varied levels of "dwellings" in the minds of governments/communities. Whether it's a multi-plex in a neighborhood or a homeless camp that acts as a tiny village.

Who knows, in a generation these camps may become true neighborhoods with trade occurring.

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elrodvt Burg

elrodvt

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9 hours ago, Dale said:

To be fair, our greenway system is superior to any I've seen in my fairly extensive travels.

And my out-of-town guests are typically wowed by it.

I think your extensive travels have missed around 100 cities just in the USA. ;-)

Little Burlington Vt is far superior. In fact everywhere I've spent enough time to learn the system is superior. I have not traveled in the south much so maybe that is where our reference points diverge.

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Dale City

Dale

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Just now, elrodvt said:

I think your extensive travels have missed around 100 cities just in the USA. ;-)

Little Burlington Vt is far superior. In fact everywhere I've spent enough time to learn the system is superior. I have not traveled in the south much so maybe that is where our reference points diverge.

I've visited every major city in the US save Minneapolis and Seattle. But I know it's not hip, certainly not hipster-hip to admit that we've got it pretty good here.

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Niner National Burg

Niner National

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10 minutes ago, Dale said:

I've visited every major city in the US save Minneapolis and Seattle. But I know it's not hip, certainly not hipster-hip to admit that we've got it pretty good here.

I haven't traveled around the us a ton, but I lived in dc and spend a lot of time in raleigh. Both areas have it far better than we do.

 

Our greenway are well dine where they exist, but they're too disconnected to offer anything more than leisure for most people. We are still a long way off from them being a viable transit alternative.

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Third Strike Hamlet

Third Strike

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8 hours ago, CLT2014 said:

It could be worse, the Greenways in the area I'm from in Orange County, CA is basically a giant homeless camp now. Sometimes while you bike through they try to stop you and chase you with needles. This camp extends a couple miles along the trail. So I guess we can count our blessings in CLT that the greenways are at least pretty clean!

 

Getting chased by homeless people with needles? Is that a common thing in places near a large segment of homeless people?

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ah59396 Town

ah59396

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16 minutes ago, Dale said:

I've visited every major city in the US save Minneapolis and Seattle. But I know it's not hip, certainly not hipster-hip to admit that we've got it pretty good here.

I can't say I agree with this.  Charlotte as a whole is wonderful, but it's greenway system is well behind its peers (Austin, Minneapolis, Denver, Raleigh, Metro Orlando, etc.)

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