Charlotte Greenways and Trails

[QClifer]

Yeah wish they didn’t clear all the trees unless it helps with flooding.  It got hot in the summer with no shade. 

[Bikeguy]

Light Installations Come to the Rail Trail with
“I Heart Rail Trail: Lights” Presented by U.S. Bank

What: Temporary, interactive light installations pop up along the Rail Trail
When: Thursday, February 13 – Saturday, February 29
Where: A one-mile stretch along the Rail Trail from Carson St. to Sycamore Brewing
Internationally renowned light installations are coming to the Charlotte Rail Trail to kick off a year-long partnership between U.S. Bank and the Rail Trail called I Heart Rail Trail. The I Heart Rail Trail initiative will feature events large and small to activate the Rail Trail and enhance the experience of this 3.5-mile linear park. From February 13 – February 29, I Heart Rail Trail: Lights will feature four interactive light installations spread along a one-mile stretch of the Rail Trail from Carson St. to Sycamore Brewing.
• Sonic Forest: Next to 1100 South Apartments across from Carson St. Station
• Passage: Next to Post South Apartments near Bland Street
• Echo: Kingston Plaza near Dilworth Artisan Station
• Run Beyond: Sycamore Brewing
The partnership between U.S. Bank and the Charlotte Rail Trail is part of U.S. Bank’s Community Possible initiative. Their unified giving and engagement strategy Community Possible focuses on closing the gaps between people and possibility in the areas of Work, Home and Play. They believe the building blocks of all thriving communities where all things are possible include stable employment opportunities, a home to call your own, and a community connected through culture, arts, recreation and play. Visit www.usbank.com/community for more information.
The Rail Trail is envisioned to be an integrated public art experience that creates a unique, ever-changing destination, linking diverse neighborhoods in Charlotte that invites people of all ages and backgrounds to come together to discover, enjoy and explore.

Full installation and artist descriptions below:
Sonic Forest: An Urban Musical (https://www.creos.io/en/art/foret-sonique)
Sonic Forest is a multi-sensory, interactive installation that is part of Christopher Janney’s “Urban Musical Instruments” series. The “Sonic Forest” is composed of 16, eight-foot-tall by ten-inch diameter columns each containing audio speakers, lights and photo-electric sensors. Touching the electronic trees triggers a series of events-from an original score of melodic tones, environmental sounds, and spoken or whispered expressions to an ever-changing color palette of LED lights. Everyone who walks through this instrument calls up their own “musical oasis.” The entire installation will sound the time of day each hour. A “ghost in the machine” will trigger the installation at random moments, and the installation will “play by itself’ for short intervals when no one has passed through it.
Artist: Christopher Janney
#SonicForest
Facebook: @ChristopherJanneySound
Instagram: @janneysound
Christopher Janney was trained as an architect and a jazz musician. He has created numerous permanent interactive sound & light installations, attempting, on the one hand, to make architecture more "spontaneous" and, on the other hand, to make music more physical, more visual. Projects include the interactive sculptural scoreboard for the Miami Arena, Florida; “Rainbow Cove” at Logan Airport, Boston, Massachusetts; “A House is a Musical Instrument: Kona”, an 8,000-sq. foot private residence in Kona, Hawaii based on Hawaiian cosmological principles; “Harmonic Convergence”, an interactive sound/light environment in the Miami International Airport; “Harmonic Fugue” for Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas; and five US/UK tours of Sonic Forest.
Sonic Forest has been to the following major music festivals: Bonnaroo, Coachella, Wireless, Electric Daisy Carnival and Glastonbury.

Passage (https://www.creos.io/en/art/passage)
Passage is an immersive, minimalist, contemplative and interactive artwork that explores the emotional connections we develop with light and sound. The concept of the artwork takes root in the definition of the word passage itself: the act of moving through or past something on the way from one place to another, and the process of transition from one state to another in a temporal dimension. The installation consists of 20 circles of light that form a tunnel which bystanders will go through, and a sound system. The passage through the tunnel activates light animations and sounds.
Artist: Serge Maheu
#Passage
Facebook: @sergemaheu.studio
Instagram: @semahaIlluminart
Facebook: @Montrealenlumiere @experienceilluminart
Trained as a computer engineer, Serge Maheu has followed a more creative path that led him into arts and, therefore, to become a multimedia director. By bringing together his experience in film, animation, photography, sound & music, computer programming, mathematics, interactivity, electronics and design, Maheu’s practice is cross-disciplinary. An avid lover of straight and obliques lines, squares, pixels and concrete, minimalist and repetitive music. He is interested in creating innovative art based on a certain digital poetry while pursuing the relation of mankind with the digital world. He’s open to fresh ideas, collaborations and new art (or non-art) explorations.

Run Beyond https://www.lightart-collection.com/.../run-beyond-light...
'Run Beyond' is a work that focuses on the leap that we all have to make, sooner or later: the leap to freedom. Artist Angelo Bonello doesn’t specify what freedom that is—so it’s up to the spectator to decide. "This work is about the power of imagination; a force that is so strong that it allows individuals to overcome their fears and limitations so that they can open themselves up to other cultures, new friendships and unknown worlds," Bonello says.
Artist: Angelo Bonello
Turin-born artist Angelo Bonello was exposed to art at a young age. As a child he was taught how to paint and create sculptures by his teacher, the impressionist artist Sergio Manfredi. For many years, Bonello lived a nomadic lifestyle, traveling from Paris to Mexico, Hamburg to Rio de Janeiro. Since 1997 he has been living in Rome where he runs KitonB with Alberta Nunziante. Their work is characterized by a stylistic approach, based on the dimensional deformations of spaces.

Echo
Artist: Echo is a kinetic display of light and sound designed to capture the energy of city light. Echo stands nine feet tall with interlaced LED light ribbons and a shimmering metal base to reflect the light. The light sculpture “learns” from previous impulses and sound waves to create a dazzling and mesmerizing impact on the scenes.

 

[CLT2014]

Anybody check it out last night? There must be a good amount of installations to stretch it over a mile long. 

[stw52]

51 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

Anybody check it out last night? There must be a good amount of installations to stretch it over a mile long. 

I did not but plan to over the weekend. I understand there are 4 installations within the  1 mile stretch.

[Madison Parkitect]

Very very cool. Public art, both temporary and permanent, is the kind of thing Charlotte needs to regularly get more of to help bump it up a level among national cities.

[go_vertical]

Strong support for the local arts whether it be art/sculpture, dance, music, etc is one of the easiest ways to grow a city's identity/vibe/culture. The more a local artist or creator is able to get exposure right here in their home town the better they will flourish and grow alongside the city. I'm so glad that we are starting to see more large murals going up and I hope that continues. 

It isn't uncommon for musicians, performers, and artists to move away from places like here that don't have a really strong scene to a New Orleans or LA or NYC where they may have a better chance of making a name for themselves doing what they love. I personally know a couple of people from Charlotte who have done that very thing in order to succeed. It's unfortunate because that is a creative person who will now develop their craft being inspired by a new locale with a new vibe. 

Here in the Queen City we could be doing way more than currently are to help with this. Go spend 5 or 7 bucks and see a local band you've never heard of, look closely at the signature on the next mural that makes you pause and contact that person. Ask them if they have any shows coming up and share their stuff on social media. And for God's sake go to an open mic night at Petras or the Comedy Zone. There are some funny people from here that just need more eyes on them. 

[a2theb]

For those who are not aware, Stewart Creek greenway is closed from Litaker/Walnut to Freedom until April. Looks like the recent rain eroded the support for some sewage lines and they collapsed into the creek.

[DH17]

2 hours ago, a2theb said:

For those who are not aware, Stewart Creek greenway is closed from Litaker/Walnut to Freedom until April. Looks like the recent rain eroded the support for some sewage lines and they collapsed into the creek.

That's my running trail 

I was able to get past the fence down there this weekend (thought it was related to Duke clearing brush under the power lines near Litaker/Walnut), but came across some workers and they kindly sent me back the other way. 

[InSouthPark]

The Little Sugar Creek greenway from Burnt Mill Rd to Huntingtowne Park has been closed for a yearlong improvement.  Widening of greenway, creek remediation and new bridge to Starmount are all part of this construction.  Fences are already up preventing access.   Huge bummer for me as I walk/run that section almost daily but it was very needed.   Haven't seen much recent progress on the section just north of Tyvola.   That section is going to require a LOT of retaining walls, especially around Lucky Lou's at Park and Selywn. 

Anyone check out the progress south of 485 to Polk?  

[kermit]

So this thread:

In my neck of the woods sidewalks are crowded and there is a nearly constant stream of bikers (and rollerbladers) in the street.  

 

Edited March 30, 2020 by kermit

[CLT2014]

53 minutes ago, kermit said:

So this thread:

In my neck of the woods sidewalks are crowded and there is a nearly constant stream of bikers (and rollerbladers) in the street.  

 

Pretty sure this is just irresponsible, but more parks are still a good thing! If people were going to the park to go on a walk with their household, that's one thing. The bad behavior is multiple households interacting at the park. People aren't distancing... they are clustering with strangers (pickup games) and friends that live in other households. You could make the park a million acres and these people would be clustered together shoulder to shoulder. 

"Oh but I'm not going to get it from my group of friends. They totally don't have the coronavirus"..... said every person that's gone to a party with friends that has become an outbreak hot spot.

Dude (on left) touching his face after touching a basketball that is being passed around to 8 other people who are sweating and likely to touch their face.

Edited March 30, 2020 by CLT2014

[Matthew.Brendan]

It's not real until it happens to you!

Then it becomes, "Why me??!!"

[NYtoCLT]

Has there ever been any conversation in Charlotte about beautifying and building a trail around the Reservoir?  It is an amenity that is almost treated like a blight that needs to be hidden.  

 

The reservoirs in two of the places I've lived -- Chestnut Hill, MA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut_Hill_Reservoir) and NYC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Kennedy_Onassis_Reservoir) -- are both cherished community assets.  

 

We have a serious shortage of parks and trails and this feels like something that would be relatively easy to turn from eyesore into cultural attraction.   Especially for a city without much water, this feels like an opportune way to incorporate water into our park space as we look to address our parks problem.

 

For people who haven't been, the surrounding neighborhood has a lot of industrial sites close by, but it is pretty close to center city with incredible views of the skyline over the water (but without so much as a sidewalk on the side that would allow for this view).

[videtur quam contuor]

Mountain Island Lake is our water intake location for Charlotte and thus equivalent to our reservoir. All the chain of Catawba lakes includes a 100 foot control strip for Duke to preserve and protect riparian shoreline. Most of this 100 foot area is private land and beyond the 100 foot area is all private land. I see no way for such a project.

Are you thinking of some other place as our "reservoir"?

 

[NYtoCLT]

2 minutes ago, tarhoosier said:

Mountain Island Lake is our water intake location for Charlotte and thus equivalent to our reservoir. All the chain of Catawba lakes includes a 100 foot control strip for Duke to preserve and protect riparian shoreline. Most of this 100 foot area is private land and beyond the 100 foot area is all private land. I see no way for such a project.

Are you thinking of some other place as our "reservoir"?

 

 

[CLT2014]

The tough things for those reservoirs is being in such an industrial area.. Most residents of 28216 zip code aren't very far from Latta Plantation and walking along Mountain Island Lake. If given the choice between a drive to Latta to go on a walk or a drive to these Reservoirs, Latta will win out for most people. Those reservoirs don't really become viable until the whole neighborhood becomes a pleasant place to walk and the industrial uses would have to move out. Since it isn't walking distance to many homes, it has to be a "destination" park to get people to drive to it, but it just won't have the amenities or size to be a destination like Latta without a complete overhaul of the entire industrial area.

[videtur quam contuor]

That is the Vest Treatment Plant. Click on item #2 on this site "water treatment" and you will see what is involved. This is all within the treatment facility and there is no way our public water source would allow random ramblings in that perimeter. It is on high ground as all water supply systems must be in order to use gravity for supply.

https://charlottenc.gov/Water/Education/Pages/Journey.aspx

[videtur quam contuor]

We are very fortunate that we have a remarkably stable and robust water supply in the Catawba River. The headwaters lie in Watauga County and close to Asheville  and drain much of western North Carolina, following a drainage south to Shelby and Mooresville and then south to South Carolina. The abundant rain and snowfall over this entire region and the lack of cities anywhere the size of Charlotte allow us to benefit. For comparison, Raleigh uses Falls Lake for water and their watershed is from Roxboro to Hillsborough and skirts Durham. A far smaller area with much less elevation change. The risk of water shortage is significantly greater there than here.

Atlanta has a similar situation to Raleigh as Atlanta is above 1000 feet elevation and thus their watershed is the Chattahoochee with limited drainage area and disputes with lower Chattahoochee states Alabama and Florida. You can read about the Tri-State Water Wars many places online.

[NYtoCLT]

30 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

The tough things for those reservoirs is being in such an industrial area.. Most residents of 28216 zip code aren't very far from Latta Plantation and walking along Mountain Island Lake. If given the choice between a drive to Latta to go on a walk or a drive to these Reservoirs, Latta will win out for most people. Those reservoirs don't really become viable until the whole neighborhood becomes a pleasant place to walk and the industrial uses would have to move out. Since it isn't walking distance to many homes, it has to be a "destination" park to get people to drive to it, but it just won't have the amenities or size to be a destination like Latta without a complete overhaul of the entire industrial area.

I hear that it has a lot of industrial sites nearby, but (1) there are definitely homes/neighborhoods nearby (some directly across the street on Auten Road!) and (2) the character of the neighborhood today does not necessarily reflect the character tomorrow.  If something half as nice as some higher profile reservoirs were to be put in place, I would guess developers would be willing to do what is necessary to make some of those sites OK for residential use given the proximity to uptown.  Also, it would be way cheaper to do things when the surrounding area is what it is today as opposed to what it might be in the future.

As for comparing it to Latta plantation, I think looking at these things in terms of zip code is way too broad -- the closest point of Mountain Island Lake is over 4 miles away from the reservoir as the crow flies (let alone driving).  That makes this almost half-way between uptown and Latta.  That is far.  Also, the area around the lake is wealthy and white.  The neighborhoods around this are not.  

41 minutes ago, tarhoosier said:

That is the Vest Treatment Plant. Click on item #2 on this site "water treatment" and you will see what is involved. This is all within the treatment facility and there is no way our public water source would allow random ramblings in that perimeter. It is on high ground as all water supply systems must be in order to use gravity for supply.

https://charlottenc.gov/Water/Education/Pages/Journey.aspx

Maybe I am missing something but I don't see why the reservoir water being used for the treatment next to it would impact the ability of people to be near it as a greenway.  The water in that reservoir isn't treated yet, right?  I am not an engineer but I am guessing it is storage before being treated.  How does this make that water any different than the water in Mountain Island lake where people have access?

[KJHburg]

4 hours ago, tarhoosier said:

We are very fortunate that we have a remarkably stable and robust water supply in the Catawba River. The headwaters lie in Watauga County and close to Asheville  and drain much of western North Carolina, following a drainage south to Shelby and Mooresville and then south to South Carolina. The abundant rain and snowfall over this entire region and the lack of cities anywhere the size of Charlotte allow us to benefit. For comparison, Raleigh uses Falls Lake for water and their watershed is from Roxboro to Hillsborough and skirts Durham. A far smaller area with much less elevation change. The risk of water shortage is significantly greater there than here.

Atlanta has a similar situation to Raleigh as Atlanta is above 1000 feet elevation and thus their watershed is the Chattahoochee with limited drainage area and disputes with lower Chattahoochee states Alabama and Florida. You can read about the Tri-State Water Wars many places online.

Catawba River is formed from a trickle near Mt Mitchell in McDowell county and  you can see the small river go under I-40 near Marion.   Charlotte indeed does have a great water supply much better than Atlanta  or many other southeastern cities for sure.   Plus the Pee Dee Yadkin  River system to the east provides water for Cabarrus and many areas to the east.      http://hiltonpond.org/CatawbaRiverEssay01.html

and speaking of parks I am very upset about this Meck county closing of the parking lots for parks to "try" to break up crowds.  Since most of the people gathering in groups seem to be on fields or basketball courts why were those not closed or better patrolled than to close the parking lots.  Case in point Reedy Creek Park there is but one neighborhood within walking distance of this massive park but yet has gates up so no one can drive in.  This deprives many of using this park from east Charlotte area.  Things like this are likely  not to be forgotten the next time parks and rec bonds come up.  

Edited April 12, 2020 by KJHburg

[elrodvt]

Anyone know how "pee dee" came about? Odd name.

[kermit]

^ Native American origins

From a pretty lame wiki page:

Quote

The meaning of name Pedee is unknown but is believed to be a Catawba language-term. Anthropologist Frank Speck believed the term may have derived from the Catawba term pi'ri, meaning "something good," or pi'here, meaning "capable," "expert," or "smart."^[1]

 

Edited April 12, 2020 by kermit

[stiluvclt]

What's the prognosis on the Brandywine (behind Park Road Shopping Center) part of the greenway?

 

[videtur quam contuor]

KJH:

"Since most of the people gathering in groups seem to be on fields or basketball courts why were those not closed or better patrolled than to close the parking lots."

It is in time of difficulty and sacrifice that character is revealed.

[SoDoSoPa]

16 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Catawba River is formed from a trickle near Mt Mitchell in McDowell county and  you can see the small river go under I-40 near Marion.   Charlotte indeed does have a great water supply much better than Atlanta  or many other southeastern cities for sure.   Plus the Pee Dee Yadkin  River system to the east provides water for Cabarrus and many areas to the east.      http://hiltonpond.org/CatawbaRiverEssay01.html

and speaking of parks I am very upset about this Meck county closing of the parking lots for parks to "try" to break up crowds.  Since most of the people gathering in groups seem to be on fields or basketball courts why were those not closed or better patrolled than to close the parking lots.  Case in point Reedy Creek Park there is but one neighborhood within walking distance of this massive park but yet has gates up so no one can drive in.  This deprives many of using this park from east Charlotte area.  Things like this are likely  not to be forgotten the next time parks and rec bonds come up.  

There was a HUGE difference in crowds at the parks after they stopped letting people drive in. 

I know there some that don't have parks within walking or biking distance, but I seriously doubt those were the people driving  to Freedom and the other large parks.