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The acceleration of construction along the trail will ultimately allow people like Bollinger and Leneave to keep challenging themselves to go as far as they choose. Much of the challenge for people like Bollinger and trail runner Carlin Leneave are places where the Cross Charlotte Trail abruptly ends, such as on the edge of Cordelia Park at North Davidson Street. That’s especially true near Cordelia Park in northeast Charlotte, which straddles the Plaza Midwood and NoDa neighborhoods. “The project was finished months ahead of schedule and we are thrilled to offer this new amenity for the community to use, especially during this challenging time,” said Imad Fakhreddin, senior engineering project manager. For more background on the project, we encourage you to read this article in the Charlotte Observer and Sustain Charlotte’s explanation of the situation.
There's a new push for protected bike lanes across Uptown - Axios
There's a new push for protected bike lanes across Uptown.
Posted: Mon, 09 May 2016 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Newest section of Cross Charlotte Trail to officially open Thursday
City leaders are holding a ribbon-cutting later this morning to officially open the section of trail. The map below shows the entire alignment of the trail from the South Carolina state line to Kempsford Drive near the Cabarrus County line.
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The 0.3-mile-long trail creates a connection between the popular Park Road Park and the greenway system that makes up the Cross Charlotte Trail. “The park road portion, that can be really difficult connecting to the different parks,” Leneave added. “The connector is a game-changer for long-distance runners like me who need places to train. Having a dedicated path away from traffic is a huge benefit, and it opens up access between two large greenway systems. Now people won’t have to drive as far to get in a long run,” said Franklin Keathley, a member of the board of directors for the Charlotte Running Club.
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Hunt Allen told WCNC Charlotte he lives near the Little Sugar Creek Greenway and not only exercises on it everyday, but bikes on it to get to work. "I feel very safe and comfortable riding on the trail all the way downtown.” Allen said. Rescue personnel hiked a mile down the trail and spoke to a female who said she was hiking with others to a large creek on the trail when another woman trying to cross the creek fell in. She said a man jumped in and tried to rescue her, but he also disappeared. Officially, the 1.5-mile Brandywine-to-Tyvola segment is not open.
Brandywine-to-Tyvola greenway segment is finished
In all, there are 11 segments of trail, stretching 30 miles from Pineville all the way to Cabarrus County. The newest section of trail is just over a mile and a half, but officials say it fills a critical gap, completely connecting an 18-mile stretch between NoDa and the South Carolina state line. The trail combines transportation options with recreation amenities as a way to encourage residents to drive less and exercise more. The long-term project is a collaborative effort between Charlotte city government and Mecklenburg County government.
As for this stretch of the Little Sugar Creek Greenway, which was largely new to me, it’s breathtaking — full of hidden-gem urban green spaces and eclectic points of interest from tiny to huge. Within a few hundred yards from the crest of the hill, we were on the regular sidewalk that runs along Rockland Drive. Around the 3-mile mark, after navigating gentle bends and concrete boardwalks through/over a pretty, peaceful swath of wetlands, we came to the street crossing at Rocky River Road West. In the not-too-distant future, the northernmost tip of the XCLT will be the trailhead at North Tryon Street, just around the corner from PNC Music Pavilion. A run (or, more precisely, a pair of runs, since I decided to save my legs by spreading it over the course of two days) packed with surprises and pleasures, as well as a few pains.
Once the Brandywine-to-Tyvola segment is done, the Cross Charlotte Trail will be open from Pineville to NoDa. "That’s the best news I’ve heard today,” Huggins said with a smile. The trail, in its entirety, runs along with Little Sugar Creek from Brandywine Road at the north end of the city down to Tyvola Road in the southern portion. Shortly after passing the right-hand turn for the well-under-construction offshoot that eventually will take LSCG greenway-goers to the South Carolina State Line (it’s set to open later this spring), we ran into another dead end at the Polk home in Pineville. The next 6 miles — which run from just north of Park Road Park to underneath I-485 (behind Carolina Pavilion on South Boulevard), then all the way down to the President James K. Polk State Historic Site in Pineville — have a lot going for them.
— The City of Charlotte hosted a ribbon cutting to celebrate a new segment of the Cross Charlotte Trail Thursday morning. The new trail segment is located between Brandywine Road and Tyvola Road. A spokesperson for the City said the project has not been pushed back by the supply chain or inflation, but did not have a date for when the entire trail will be finished. The Brandywine-to-Tyvola segment is expected to be done by April 2023. Crews are working to extend the Little Sugar Creek Greenway from Brandywine Road to Tyvola Road. The project is one segment of the Cross Charlotte Trail that will eventually go from the South Carolina state line to the PNC Music Pavilion.
Passing by the center of the city
And there’s not a single point where you have to cross a public street or contend with a motor vehicle (other than the occasional park employee trundling past in a golf cart). The City of Charlotte is partnering with Mecklenburg County to create a 30+-mile trail and greenway facility that will stretch from the City of Pineville through Center City and on to the UNC Charlotte campus and Cabarrus County line. Once completed, the Cross Charlotte Trail will allow residents to travel seamlessly from one end of Charlotte to the other. Approximately 140,000 residents and 130,000 jobs will be within walking distance of the proposed trail and the adjacent greenways that connect to it. Construction has been underway on a section of the trail that’s near Archdale Park in south Charlotte. That’s in addition to work happening between 7th and 10th Streets in Uptown.
At this point, logistical issues were starting to become a hindrance. I floated the idea of taking surface streets for 6 miles to get to the next completed part of the XCLT in NoDa, but with little conviction. One, there’s not yet any signage (on this side of the street, anyway) indicating that the greenway continues on from here. An asphalt path off to the left heads up UCity Boulevard but leads nowhere. Across the street, the only thing in sight, really, is cookie-cutter development in the form of a Dunkin Donuts, an Arby’s, a Starbucks, an Orangetheory, etc. The day is coming when the massive City of Charlotte/Mecklenburg County project known as the Cross Charlotte Trail (aka the XCLT) will seamlessly string together several greenways to create a looong, winding, 30-plus mile route from University City to Piper Glen.
And, city council just approved the start of construction on a third section. (News Release) — The City of Charlotte has completed a new trail connecting the McMullen/McAlpine/Four Mile Creek Greenway system to the Cross Charlotte Trail (XCLT) and Little Sugar Creek Greenway. The .75-mile-long trail, called the South Charlotte Connector, runs parallel to I-485 between McMullen Creek and Park Road near the Pineville City Limit. It features a boardwalk system and bridge over McMullen Creek near Charlotte Water’s McAlpine Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant. The trail expands access to the Cross Charlotte Trail by approximately six miles and to thousands of users.
Presently, however, that segment is still in the design phase. So if you go looking for it — like Charlotte Observer visual journalist Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez and I did — you’ll find a labyrinthine subdivision, an apartment complex, maybe a Walmart. Target completion dates on at least one section are three years away. There are wayfinding guides up to help people get to the SouthPark Loop and the Cross Charlotte Trail, according to the city. Click here to see complete map of the trail, including which sections are complete and what has yet to be done.
“I run about 50 miles a week, and I cycle about 200 miles a week,” Bollinger said. He says the best workouts happen when he has an unfettered, free range of trails, paved walkway and greenways. “I’ve just become accustom to figuring out what the perfect out and back is,” he said. Learn more about this and other segments of the Cross Charlotte Trail at charlottefuture.com/xclt. The 30-mile-long pathway is part of Charlotte’s strategic mobility plan; investing in multimodal travel options that promote health and sustainability.
Now that the Brandywine-to-Tyvola segment finished, the Cross Charlotte Trail will be open from Pineville to NoDa. Crews were working to extend the Little Sugar Creek Greenway from Brandywine Road to Tyvola Road in August 2022. Megan Huggins, who was bicycling on the greenway with her two-year-old son in tow, told WCNC Charlotte she's excited for the construction to be done so she can ride from the Park Road Shopping Center to Park Road Park. Officials said the newest part of the plan cost more than $26 million, and six other segments have work going on right now. (WBTV) - The newest section of the Cross Charlotte Trail will officially open Thursday morning. The Signal Mountain fire and police departments were called to Rainbow Lake Trail on Sunday evening after two people were reported underwater, authorities said.
The concrete path that curves under Brandywine Road in the shadow of Park Road Shopping Center looks open, but we were met by three orange barrels and yellow “caution” tape at the next underpass — the one that dips beneath East Woodlawn Road. We parked at Cordelia Park in Villa Heights, walked down the steep hill to North Davidson Street, and followed the signs for the Little Sugar Creek Greenway that pointed northeast not knowing where we’d wind up. Just beyond that point, there’s a wooden boardwalk that curves up a hill that represents the steepest section of this stretch of Toby Creek Greenway. In fact, because the battery on Melissa’s borrowed e-bike wouldn’t power on (and because those bikes are so heavy), she had to get off and walk it to get to the top. Upon reaching the other side, you can look right to finally see the continuation of the greenway — and right in front of you, for the benefit of those coming up the trail from the south, a small “Greenway Continues” sign pointing in the direction from whence you just came. Not quite 2 miles in, we arrived at the intersection where the on- and off-ramps for the westbound lanes of East W.T. Harris Boulevard meet University City Boulevard.
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