Charlotte Greenway Trails

[Dale]

12 minutes ago, ah59396 said:

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.)

I lived in Orlando for 11 years. What is this superlative greenway system you speak of ?

[ah59396]

3 minutes ago, Dale said:

I lived in Orlando for 11 years. What is this superlative greenway system you speak of ?

Little Econ, Spring to Spring, Van Fleet Trail, West Orange, everything inside of Wekiwa Springs State Park, Lake Baldwin, Cady Way Trail

 

Orlando has 150 miles of paved bike trails. Mecklenburg county has 37.

[Dale]

Just now, ah59396 said:

Little Econ, Spring to Spring, Van Fleet Trail, West Orange, everything inside of Wekiwa Springs State Park, Lake Baldwin, Cady Way Trail

 

Orlando has 150 miles of paved bike trails. Mecklenburg county has 37.

But nowhere near as inviting to walk. Charlotte's are lush by comparison. Now, Orlando's road conditions ...

[ah59396]

3 minutes ago, Dale said:

But nowhere near as inviting to walk. Charlotte's are lush by comparison. Now, Orlando's road conditions ...

For sure!  Like I said, Charlotte's problem is the lack of green ways.  The one's we have I really enjoy.  It's a fixable issue, but one I wish the city would truly tackle.

 

What I wouldn't give to see Charlotte/Meck County pass an aggressive, comprehensive, bond measure that supported a build out of the full system.  Not the patchwork approach we've taken.  Just to catch up, none the less.  Charlotte had and still has the opportunity to be a leader in greenway infrastructure.  Our lack of density frankly should make it easier.  We just need to be committed.  

[Dale]

36 minutes ago, ah59396 said:

For sure!  Like I said, Charlotte's problem is the lack of green ways.  The one's we have I really enjoy.  It's a fixable issue, but one I wish the city would truly tackle.

 

What I wouldn't give to see Charlotte/Meck County pass an aggressive, comprehensive, bond measure that supported a build out of the full system.  Not the patchwork approach we've taken.  Just to catch up, none the less.  Charlotte had and still has the opportunity to be a leader in greenway infrastructure.  Our lack of density frankly should make it easier.  We just need to be committed.  

Yeah, I should have clarified I was ranking greenways as a walker, not a biker. You kids get your damn bakes off my walkway!

[ah59396]

42 minutes ago, Dale said:

Yeah, I should have clarified I was ranking greenways as a walker, not a biker. You kids get your damn bakes off my walkway!

Even  more reason for better funding and commitment.  A world class system should offer safety and ease for both!

New York

Portland

St Louis

[Dale]

 Two short segments and a conceptual drawing. Charlotte's Little Sugar Creek Greenway, going into Uptown, beats those to death. Would I like to see more of it ? Sure, why not ?

[Guest]

On 7/14/2017 at 11:00 PM, ah59396 said:

Even  more reason for better funding and commitment.  A world class system should offer safety and ease for both!

New York

This right here, is one of the scariest situations for a biker. Oy vey. Hate riding over the brooklyn bridge

[AP3]

Here is a pic of the protected bike lane on 12th and the new rail trail entrance from Kingston in South End.



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[elrodvt]

We probably shouldn't dump sewage into the Greenway creeks either.

[lit]

On 7/17/2017 at 9:50 AM, elrodvt said:

We probably shouldn't dump sewage into the Greenway creeks either.

That's why we call em "sh!t cricks"

[archiham04]

On 7/14/2017 at 8:59 PM, ajfunder said:

Speaking of greenways, the Mint Museum  (Randolph) to Meadowbrook segment of the Briar Creek Greenway is about to get going including a massive tributary relocation project in the wetland/dog park off Museum Drive. 

do you have any links to this project?  I did some googling around and couldn't quite visualize which piece you are talking about.

[ajfunder]

17 hours ago, archiham04 said:

do you have any links to this project?  I did some googling around and couldn't quite visualize which piece you are talking about.

I'll see what I can find. It essentially is a paved trail running from the Mint to Meadowbrook with one Briar Creek crossing. Much of the project is on City land and Catawba Land Conservancy land. The drainage that runs through the "dog park" from Museum Drive to Briar Creek is going to be realigned into a meandering stream with riparian habitat and another small bridge connecting the two sides of the stream. Construction is supposed to start soon and be finished by the planting season in March.

[archiham04]

I saw the plans for the trail but couldn't find the information on the tributary realignment. I think I can visualize it from your description thanks.


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[kermit]

On 5/21/2017 at 5:14 PM, kermit said:

The tracks are actually OK for the sub 10mph service planned. The problem (when I last checked 10 months ago) was the group had made zero progress on rehabbing the two vehicles they acquired. They were sitting untouched in a parking lot across from blaze untouched when I left town. AFIK they plan to push a gas generator for power rather than wires (this was what the Southend trolly did in the pre Blue Line days).

The group has been very quiet, I have heard few requests for funding or assistance so I have never had much confidence in the organization. I kinda suspect that the project is just a shiny thing that the mill developer is dangling to attract tenants, I hope I am wrong, decent service would be huge for that part of town.

Was past the mill and Blue Blaze this morning. The streetcars are still in the fenced lot but appear to have been untouched since they arrived about 18 months ago.

[tozmervo]

Soccer's loss is parks & greenways gain. These were all originally to be part of the 2008 bond and have now been funded by the Meck CC. Looking at the development map, it seems like Briar Creek will go from zero to hero in fairly short time, suddenly providing a really nice connection across a swath of east/south charlotte

 

[Niner National]

I'm pretty excited about this.  I hope we see dirt moving on several of these soon.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, tozmervo said:

Soccer's loss is parks & greenways gain. These were all originally to be part of the 2008 bond and have now been funded by the Meck CC. Looking at the development map, it seems like Briar Creek will go from zero to hero in fairly short time, suddenly providing a really nice connection across a swath of east/south charlotte

 

I'm a little upset that Wilmore Centennial or whatever its called isn't on this list.

[elrodvt]

They've been able to do these projects for 16? years now but we expect something to happen because they decided NOT to spend money? Will they really do anything?

[CLTranspo]

http://www.sustaincharlotte.org/parkswin?utm_campaign=augwk1&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sustaincharlotte

sustain charlotte wrote a nice little piece on the future funding of those parks and greenways improvements 

[elrodvt]

^Great news if they follow through.

[Bikeguy]

Latest from Park & Rec on the timetable for Greenway construction.  One of the more interesting critical links that is now funded to the tune of 4,765,000 is the extension of the Stewart Creek Greenway from its current terminus at State Street to Trade, but the real game changer is Trib 2, the section that will take the Greenway under I-85 to Blenhein Rd. This will go directly thru what is an incredibly beautiful natural area that borders Lakewood.  The woods and terrain in this section have the real, and pretty immediate potential to be an incredible mountain biking area just a 15 minute bike ride from Uptown. 

2017.08.07 GAC Meeting_FY18 and FY19-23 CIP Approved Greenway Projects (1).pdf

[kermit]

^ awesome! Its not just Blenhein, if they provide a crossing over the very low-traffic Piedmont and Northern track it will also provide access to Hoskins Mill and village, possibly the section of nether-I-85 with the most potential for walkability.

[kermit]

One of the surprises I found in the Gateway Station area plan (thanks EllAyy) was an elevated greenway parallel to the tracks (on the Tryon side) from the stadium to 9th street -- a great plan given the hostility of Graham to bikes and peds. I didn't see any discussion of what happens at the ends but I would hope it would connect to the bike lanes on Mint and the 12th street cycle track.

from pdf p 46  http://charlottenc.gov/cats/transit-planning/charlotte-gateway-station/Documents/CGS MSAP - Final Report.pdf

Quote

Future extensions by others could examine opportunities to connect the greenway to the N. C. Music Factory.

 

They are certainly imagining a high line for Charlotte (meaning quite a few loosely programed 'meeting spaces' along the path (not shown well in rendering)

 

 

[ajfunder]

On 8/25/2017 at 10:56 AM, kermit said:

One of the surprises I found in the Gateway Station area plan (thanks EllAyy) was an elevated greenway parallel to the tracks (on the Tryon side) from the stadium to 9th street -- a great plan given the hostility of Graham to bikes and peds. I didn't see any discussion of what happens at the ends but I would hope it would connect to the bike lanes on Mint and the 12th street cycle track.

from pdf p 46  http://charlottenc.gov/cats/transit-planning/charlotte-gateway-station/Documents/CGS MSAP - Final Report.pdf

They are certainly imagining a high line for Charlotte (meaning quite a few loosely programed 'meeting spaces' along the path (not shown well in rendering)

 

 

I believe the city is planning a cycle track for 6th street across Uptown so I assume this would connect to that.