Bolin Creek Greenway
Improvements and extensions to Bolin Creek Greenway have been in the works for years, and as Phase III of the project gets underway, the Town of Chapel Hill has released an interactive story map that will allow folks to track the project's progress.
I've embedded the map below, and you can check out a larger version of it on the town's website.
Yesterday I attended an informational meeting about the proposed Tanyard Branch greenway and bridge that the Town of Chapel Hill is planning to build from the end of McMasters Street (near Northside Elementary) to the other side of Bolin Creek, ending at Jay Street, which is a dirt road that connects to Village Drive. (Tanyard Branch is the name of the stream that comes in from Carrboro and feeds into Bolin Creek at Umstead Park.)
This is a project that I personally stand to benefit from greatly. My comment from a year ago on being districted in the Northside Elementary walkzone explains that this will change our daily walk to school from 1.2 miles up a steep hill to .5 miles through the woods. This small greenway will also eventually connect to Phase III of Chapel Hill Bolin Creek Greenway, which will bring the path from MLK to Umstead Park. UNC is also creating a "Campus-to-Campus Connector" from Carolina North which will run paralell to the railroad tracks and just feet from Village Drive. This Tanyard Branch connection will someday make it much easier for people to get to central Chapel Hill from downtown, which is great.
The Advocates for Carrboro Greenways will be making a 10 minute presentation to the Carrboro Greenways Commission on the development of Greenways that will provide safe off-road transportation; traffic/CO2 mitigation in Carrboro; access to natural areas for all citizens; and preservation/restoration of degraded areas.
Date:
Monday, September 20, 2010 - 2:00pm
Location:
Carrboro Town Hall, Alderman Meeting room
Speak Out Against Paving Bolin Creek!
On Monday, March 15th at 6:30 p.m. in room 110 of the Carrboro Town Hall the Carrboro Greenways Commission is meeting to decide if they are going to accept the Greenways, Inc. proposal for paving the Bolin Creek Greenway. Please come and show that you do not agree with their plan!
There is a good opinion piece here
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/2010/03/14/55677/reject-greenway-consultan...
But I also want to point out that "Greenways for Wildlife" at NC State found that
# Percent coverage of managed area within the greenway, such as trail and other mowed or maintained surfaces, was a predictor for all but total bird abundance. Abundance and richness of development-sensitive species (neotropical migrant, insectivore, and forest-interior birds) were lowest in greenways containing more managed area.
Why stop a consultant’s recommendation to spend $3 million of taxpayers’ funds to put cement next to Bolin Creek?
This portion of Bolin Creek between Estes and Homestead is unique because it encompasses 400+ acres of assets that include a natural creek, wildflowers such as the coneflower, and wildlife such as coyotes, salamanders, heron and woodpeckers. The Adams Tract was acquired by Carrboro and the County for preservation four years ago. Next to this gorgeous forest sits the P.H. Craig tract, as yet unprotected, and finally the 300 acres of UNC property that will be protected by contract under the recently signed Development Agreement.
All together these intact woods are of immense beauty and significance, as noted by the Inventory of Significant Natural Areas of Orange County. A scientific baseline, moreover, was established by the Eco System Enhancement Program Local Watershed Plan for Little Creek (which includes Bolin Creek).
It's been interesting to see the increasing heat in the debate about the proposed Carrboro section of the Bolin Creek Greenway. It seems to have created a public rift in the group Friends of Bolin Creek, leading to the apparent self-demotion of one of it's co-chairs. Dave Otto was still a co-chair when he wrote "A case for a concrete greenway" in the Chapel Hill News on January 10th, but Julie McClintock was the sole leader by the time her response "The case for keeping Bolin Creek natural" was published on January 17th.
"I do not think it is in the best interest of the Friends of Bolin
Creek for the leadership to be split in this way," Otto said in his
announcement. "I am therefore stepping back to permit the group to
speak with a more unified voice." He will serve instead as vice-chair.
- Chapel Hill News: To pave or not to pave?, 1/24/09
A few years ago, the voters of Carrboro approved a couple million dollar bond issue to build sidewalks in various locations around Carrboro. One of the projects on the list was a sidewalk on the south side of Estes Drive Extension from the railroad tracks to North Greensboro Street. But the sidewalk bond money has not gone as far as people had hoped. Considerably higher engineering, materials, labor, drainage and utility-relocation costs have cropped up and we will not be able to build the entire original list of sidewalks with the bond money. Also, in the intervening years, the Town annexed neighborhoods on the west side of Rogers Road and it became apparent that Rogers Road was a place that needed a sidewalk, but had not been on the list before because it was not within town limits.
Disclaimer: I'm married to one of the Town employees who has been doing the work mentioned here.
Regular users of the Bolin Creek Greenway will have noticed that a lot of tree work and clearing of invasive species (such as privet) has been done lately along the trail and in the woods. The tree work has been for removal or felling of dead, dying, or heavily damaged trees, many of which have been left to decay naturally in the woods.
At least one councilman has expressed severe reservations about the work, calling it senseless, indiscriminate, and a mis-step.
You may remember last fall when I moved about 1/2 a mile north from my old home downtown and suddenly found myself feeling like I was miles away from town. For the thousand or so people like me who live near Umstead Drive, Village Drive, and Estes Drive Extension, the only way to walk downtown involves a 2-mile hike up MLK Boulevard or a cut through the woods around Estes Park Apartments to Pleasant Drive in Carrboro.
Well, the Town of Chapel Hill was two steps ahead of me and was already planning an extension of the Bolin Creek Greenway that would connect Umstead Park and our neighborhood to Northside (which is just across the creek), the future Carolina North campus, and MLK Blvd. Importantly, this extension will also connect my old neighbors in Northside to University Mall (the Greenway's eastern terminus).
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