Charlotte Greenways and Trails

[HopHead]

It looks like Charlotte is getting thier Bocce Ball court that I've been clamoring for

An updated site plan for Met Midtown shows one located just south of the planned condo tower (Phase II).....if you enlarge the site plan, it plainly states it is for Bocce

Bocce lawn? That's awesome... One of my buddies is moving into the MetLofts when it's done. I have to say, I'm jealous now...

[CharlotteDave]

Concerning the Captain Jack sculpture, I looked around the area today and I believe that the vacant lot(pictured below) across from Thompson's Park on one side and the Blumenthal Arts building on the other side must be the planned location.

I also got my first look at the greenway in about a month and a half today. To the naked eye, it doesn't look like much has been done lately, but I did notice that the section below the bridge across from the Target-Home Depot center looks a little wider than it did before. They haven't started work yet on any of the other sections.

From earlier today:

[Miesian Corners]

What is that building behind the statue?

The structure in question is CPCC's new Culinary Arts Building. Your bond money at work. From what I remember, it will have a restaurant that will be open to the public.

[uptownliving]

I though the culinary arts building was supposed to be up closer to 7th St. I could be wrong though.

[Miesian Corners]

I though the culinary arts building was supposed to be up closer to 7th St. I could be wrong though.

As could I. I have seen the statue placed nearly everywhere along the CPCC section at this point. There must be at least 5 or 6 different renderings around for this particular section of the greenway. None of which has the Captain Jack statue at the corner of 4th and Kings. I had read that this particular statue would go behind the Culinary Arts Building, so that's why I posted what I did. After looking around on the Internet, it could end up most anywhere. Glad the county keeps throwing money to the good folks at LandDesign. They sure have stayed busy drawing this tiny little segment.

Edit: I just found yet another site plan with a large round circle at the corner in question. Oddly, it has the creek flowing under the intersection of Kings and Elizabeth. Would that be because of the Duke substation?

Edited February 15, 2008 by Miesian Corners

[Miesian Corners]

Here's the place I was told the statue would (supposedly) go. This is the corner of Kings and 7th. This site plan does not show up on the county website, so who knows what the real story is.

Edited February 15, 2008 by Miesian Corners

[dubone]

That LandDesign rendering is definitely in that part of the empty lot at 4th and Kings. They were originally planning to restore Kings to its original alignment directly in front of Halton, but they kept it in its current alignment, and ditched the plans for all those roundabouts. That means, they'll put sculptures near each intersection. A different one would go near 7th as MC showed.

As for the building behind the Jack statue at 4th, it is likely going to be a student retail building as was included in older master plans to help support the greenway while still providing a use for the campus.

http://www.charmeck.org/NR/rdonlyres/evcz2...wbrf/CPCC-b.gif

[Matthew.Brendan]

That's too bad about the roundabouts - they are great devices and I'd much rather have them instead of traffic lights

[dubone]

The traffic counts are way too high on those roads. They are a nice idea for smaller streets, but it would have been an operational issue along Kings and the major roads in and out of downtown which need to retain their capacity.

[CharlotteDave]

Here is the view from the creek in that section:

[C_C_Planner]

That LandDesign rendering is definitely in that part of the empty lot at 4th and Kings. They were originally planning to restore Kings to its original alignment directly in front of Halton, but they kept it in its current alignment, and ditched the plans for all those roundabouts. That means, they'll put sculptures near each intersection. A different one would go near 7th as MC showed.

As for the building behind the Jack statue at 4th, it is likely going to be a student retail building as was included in older master plans to help support the greenway while still providing a use for the campus.

http://www.charmeck.org/NR/rdonlyres/evcz2...wbrf/CPCC-b.gif

Note the age of the rendering. I believe it has changed several times in the last 5 years and may not resemble this plan now.

[dubone]

Note the age of the rendering. I believe it has changed several times in the last 5 years and may not resemble this plan now.

I even referenced that it has changed a great deal. However, as part of that design, CPCC indicated that they would like to use that area for student-serving retail. Even though Kings is not going to be rerouted, and even though they are not going to do roundabouts at each intersection, my theory is that now that we have a new LandDesign rendering for a building on that site, the chances are high that the intended use will be the same as included in that very old LandDesign siteplan. Does that make sense?

For sure that rendering should not be viewed as the exact plans, as it is old and is already wrong on many fronts, as things have evolved over the years. (No plans to move aquatic center, to change the alignment of Kings, to replace Memorial Stadium with a creek, etc.).

[CharlotteDave]

I noticed they have a pretty interesting article and video about the greenway on the WSOC website. Apparently they're about ready to began work on the fountain and have now completed the stream restoration at that section of the creek. We continue to hear different things from different people concerning the projected timetable for the project. The woman in the video mentions 2010 for the full completion date, but a couple months ago when the Captain Jack Sculpture was donated to the county, they said they hoped to have it ready for the expected opening of the greenway in spring to summer of 2009. Perhaps it will open in stages. I'd be curious to know which part of the project will come next: the section of creek behind the Target-Home Depot or the CPCC section?

[Guest]

I noticed they have a pretty interesting article and video about the greenway on the WSOC website. Apparently they're about ready to began work on the fountain and have now completed the stream restoration at that section of the creek. We continue to hear different things from different people concerning the projected timetable for the project. The woman in the video mentions 2010 for the full completion date, but a couple months ago when the Captain Jack Sculpture was donated to the county, they said they hoped to have it ready for the expected opening of the greenway in spring to summer of 2009. Perhaps it will open in stages. I'd be curious to know which part of the project will come next: the section of creek behind the Target-Home Depot or the CPCC section?

Imagine going to a shopping center every day, parking in the parking lot, going about your daily business, maybe even waiting in line at the drive-through at the McDonald's there.Now imagine, for decades on end, there was a forgotten body of water flowing underneath all of this bustling urban activity.

Loved that quote Everything in that quote is autocentric, then they call it urban, how lame.

[CharlotteDave]

The creek was really looking good the other day. Maybe some day this stretch of greenway will look as good in its own way as the one a few minutes away at Freedom Park.

[redlikemethodz]

When is the greenway projected to be completed?

[CharlotteDave]

When is the greenway projected to be completed?

You hear different things from different people. It seems like they're still talking 2010 for having all aspects fully completed and open to the public. On the other hand, the group sponsoring the Captain Jack sculpture has said they hope to have that ready by spring to summer of 2009, so it sounds like some parts may be open before others. Looking at the photo above, it's hard to imagine that section not being ready a year from now. Supposedly they're planning to start work on the fountain any time now.

[Raintree21]

While the creek improvements are now finished, my friend who works for Parks and Rec says the Met portion of the greenway won't be done until around October of this year.

[New Name]

While the creek improvements are now finished, my friend who works for Parks and Rec says the Met portion of the greenway won't be done until around October of this year.

Think of what the creek will look like once the lights from the bistros and shops are reflecting on the water. I am sure there will be a landscape lighting scheme too for the natural areas. For a city without much for water features, this is going to be a real nice change.

[CharlotteDave]

They gave a progress report on the greenway at the county commission meeting Tuesday night, and it was pretty informative. Their spokesman confirmed that parts of the greenway will open before the entire project is complete. That was good to hear because the target date for full completion is spring of 2010. Overall, though, things seem to be coming along very well. Below is a link to the video(see the drop down menu for the greenway presentation) It sounded like they're fairly close to starting work on several different sections, and it was mentioned that when complete, the greenway would be connected from Cordelia Park all the way to Freedom Park.

http://mecklenburg.granicus.com/MediaPlaye...amp;clip_id=641

[Raintree21]

Wow. That was a very informative presentation. Finally, a concrete location on the Captain James Jack statue at 4th and Kings Drive. Looks like the biggest hurdle they are going to have is going over 277 and under the railroad.

[CharlotteDave]

I notice that the website for the May 20th Society now lists the target date for the unveiling of the Captain Jack statue as May of 2010. One has to assume that probably means May 20th, 2010. They also have a new artist's rendering that includes a reflecting pool. Hopefully they'll take advantage of the opportunity to highlight some other elements related to Meck Dec or some of the other dramatic aspects of Charlotte's role during that revolutionary period.

Speaking of the Greenway in general, it sometimes seems like the progress is incredibly slow. Except for the stretch they've been working on for 18 months now, they still to my knowledge haven't started work on any of the other parts. With roughly 18 months to go until the projected target date, that must mean they're going to be working on several different stretches at the same time as the new year progresses.

[CharlotteDave]

At the county commission meeting tonight, Jennifer Roberts mentioned that three Charlotte greenways qualify as candidates for Obama's stimulus package coming up in January. It has to do with them being part of a transportation corridor. One was the Little Sugar Creek Greenway and I think Stewart Creek was one of the others. She didn't specify what it would actually mean if they're approved, but I guess it would probably mean a faster timetable for certain parts of the greenway.

[dubone]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/445864.html

This is the first good synopsis I have seen about Little Sugar Creek Greenway in a very long time, although I suspect we'll see a few more articles on it this year as they prepare to open the most visible and crucial stretch of the greenway between Morehead and Charlottetowne this summer.

Someone will have to update me on how far south the greenway extends now. My understanding is that it goes down to around Tyvola, but that they may have changed or I might have been wrong (I've never taken it that far).

It appears that next year (2010) they expect to finish it to CPCC's new Culinary school at 7th Street once CPCC builds a new parking deck alongside Memorial Station to replace the parking lots along the creek there. I assume the statue at 4th Street will go up then too.

That means as of this summer you will be able to get between at least Rt 4 (Woodlawn/Runnymead) and uptown, and by next year the entire stretch alongside uptown will be complete.

Much of it in Optimist Park is also fairly well done, although I think they eventually want to enhance that stretch with ponds for water quality purposes. As part of Seigel Village (old Piedmont Courts) they plan to significant enhance the greenway between 10th and the Seaboard RR line with nice park amenities. So then the only connections I haven't really heard much about are getting people under that RR line (it is impassable now) and between 7th and 10th, although the latter is already fairly well taken care of by McDowell which got a street diet north of 7th. They could do further improvements, though, to connect that, including converting the useless universal turn lane on the 7th St bridge into 2 bike lanes and wider sidewalks to get people to McDowell, and even possibly a path in the green section behind the M-Street condos.

Regardless, the sections they are actively working on between 7th and Morehead are by far the most crucial for connecting the existing greenway to uptown to be useful as a commuting corridor and to open it up to lots more people in Midtown, Elizabeth and Uptown.

I have followed this project as closely as one can with the lack of press coverage generally, and it is great to see that this stretch is almost to completion!

[CharlotteDave]

It was a good article. I just wish it had said something about when they plan to stat work on the part of the greenway that goes behind the Target-Home Depot and on into Thompson's Park. I plan to e-mail the author of the article and see if she has any information on that. I do know the unveiling of the Captain Jack sculpture is planned for May of 2010.