Trails and Greenways

https://vimeo.com/853034214

This rendering video was posted on Reddit by someone who said that Carl Rist sent it to the Trinity Park community list serve. The rendering looks terrific BUT hard to get excited given that we’ve previously been told the funding isn’t there to fully build out the plan. Also it’s mid 2024 and still no update on a possible start date for any actual work. We are 2 years past the public engagement sessions and the only communication from city leaders comes in the form of an email to a single neighborhood list serve.

Related, the area that was cleared for the South Ellerbe wetlands project looks terrible and hasn’t seen any activity in several years. Another initiative that is heading down the path of great idea/zero execution.

There was a presentation walking through this video in one of the most recent city council meetings by the way! I thought it was a great presentation overall. Even the minimum viable version (that's already funded) is pretty good, and motivation seems high at the city/council level to find funding for the rest of it.

The presentation also talks about the connection to the south ellerbe project and shows a rendering. Looks like 2027 is a realistic deadline for completion (Rist and Leo really pushed on this in the meeting), which feels about right at this stage.

That’s good to hear. Is there a link you could share? Feels like driving this project forward should be a top priority for the city but we haven’t had anyone really leading the effort. Good to know that Rist and others are investing. Raleigh has really organized around their big Dix Park project and has raised millions in private money from corporates and individuals. Not saying we necessarily should or need to do the same but money is out there.

Okay so I found the associated meeting materials regarding the rail trail update. Basically they increased the contract amount with McAdams to allow for the full design which incorporates the incremental amenities and “gateway park” in addition to the base trail. The amenities along the trail are projected to cost $2.5MM and the gateway park is projected to cost $8.2MM so that’s a total of $10.7MM in additional funding that needs to be secured. It seems like the gateway park component is critical if we want this to really be a destination. Hope they figure out a way to get it done. Construction could start in spring 2026 according to this timeline.

https://cityordinances.durhamnc.gov/OnBaseAgendaOnline/Meetings/ViewMeeting?id=652&doctype=1

Nice to see some movement on this