Happy trails? Getting there

You wanted more about greenways. Here you go

RALEIGH -- Excitement over the opening of the 2.2-mile Middle Crabtree Creek Trail this spring was a bit greater than usual for a greenway opening. For one, the stretch of trail was a year and a half past its scheduled debut, the result of squabbling between the city of Raleigh and the contractor.

The opening was welcome, too, because it linked two stretches of existing trail to create an 11-mile near-continuous greenway along Crabtree Creek from Milburnie Road near WakeMed northwest to just shy of Duraleigh Road in North Raleigh.

Less than two months later, Tropical Storm Alberto came through, tearing out chunks of asphalt along the greenway and ripping up two sections of boardwalk. The just-opened greenway closed. Trail users were again unhappy.

How unhappy came to light last Thursday when we published our map of the 14-mile Black Creek/Umstead/Reedy Creek greenway. Love the map, many of you said via e-mail. Now, what's going on with Middle Crabtree Creek?

Actually, you had questions on a number of greenways and trails throughout the region: The American Tobacco Trail, the stretch linking existing greenway along Crabtree Creek with Umstead State Park and the Neuse River Greenway.

That made us think it might not be a bad idea to start covering trails on a regular basis. Every other week, perhaps.

Starting today, Get Out! Get Fit! will provide biweekly trail news on emerging trails, trail improvements and repairs, organized hikes -- that kind of thing. The report will usually appear each Thursday on page 2E. (In the off weeks, we'll continue to write about a variety of other things you can do outdoors.)

Now, about Middle Crabtree Creek Trail. Alberto ripped up asphalt on the trail near Kiwanis Park, tore out a 100-foot section of boardwalk near Raleigh Boulevard and washed out the moorings supporting boardwalk on a stretch just west of Capital Boulevard.

The good news, reports Raleigh greenway planner Vic Lebsock, is that two of those problems have been fixed: the missing asphalt and the boardwalk near Raleigh Boulevard. Lebsock says a 90-day contract was just let on the boardwalk near Capital Boulevard and that the entire 2.3-mile stretch of Middle Crabtree Creek should reopen in November. Thus, you'll once again be able to ride the 11-mile stretch of Crabtree greenway.

Elsewhere in Raleigh

* Ray Mann of Raleigh wonders: "Do you know the status of extending the Crabtree Greenway trail from Duraleigh to Umstead Park? I would love to know."

You and a passel of other folks, Ray. Now, the Crabtree Greenway stops about 100 yards shy of Duraleigh Road. The plan is to run the greenway along Crabtree past Duraleigh, on past Ebenezer Church Road and into Umstead State Park, where it would hook into Umstead's trail network, which hooks into Cary's Black Creek Greenway, which eventually will meet up with the American Tobacco Trail. Anyway...

That stretch passes through a quarry and has been tied up in litigation between the city, the quarry and nearby homeowners. The short version of this convoluted situation: The quarry will grant passage on its land in exchange for being allowed permission to mine another section of nearby land that it owns. The nearby homeowners aren't keen on that happening. Thus, the litigation.

Lebsock says he toured the land a couple of months ago with the city's attorneys. Since then, they've been more tight-lipped than usual about the status of the land.

"I'm not sure what to make of that," Lebsock says.

* Jeff Hickey lives in North Raleigh's Wakefield Plantation, where a 1.5-mile stretch of greenway recently opened. "Is this just limited to the community?" Jeff asks. "Or does it go somewhere else?"