Our favorite greenways

The Triangle's rich and growing network yields five top trails

What's your favorite greenway?

Not long ago, Triangleites were hard-pressed to answer that question. The reason: It was hard to find one. Raleigh, which pioneered the concept of a paved path through a linear park in the 1970s, had a few. Cary and Durham one or two. And wasn't there one somewhere in Chapel Hill?

Today, we're still challenged to name a favorite greenway, but for a much different reason. A decade ago the local greenway scene consisted of half-mile squiggles here and there, but now the region has more than 150 miles of paved pathways, a number expected to increase to 200 in the next two to three years.

And no longer are greenways the exclusive domain of the Triangle's larger municipalities: Nine towns and cities have greenways, and at least two more expect to join the club soon.

Why the change? Two reasons.

More people are walking. True, people use the greenways for a variety of reasons: Increasingly, people are biking to work and using long stretches of greenway for their daily commute. But greenways are dominated by walkers, and walking is the nation's preferred form of exercise. According to a recent survey by the National Sporting Goods Association, 88.9 million Americans walked for exercise last year, making it by far the most popular way to work out ("exercising with equipment" was a distant second, with 52.8 million participants). Ask any local parks planner what the No. 1 request is when they poll residents and the answer is always more walking trails.

Also driving the greenways push is the near completion of one of its own, the American Tobacco Trail. The ATT runs from New Hill in southwestern Wake County north through Chatham County and into downtown Durham. About 20 of its 22 miles are open (three bridges -- two in Chatham County and one spanning I-40 in Durham -- are the remaining missing links). The ATT is viewed as the backbone of the Triangle's greenway system: Hook up to it and you tap into a recreational transportation network that someday will take residents just about anywhere they care to go in the Triangle. Veteran guidebook author Allen de Hart, whose work includes "Trails of the Triangle" (John F. Blair), estimates that within five years you'll be able to ride a bike from downtown Raleigh to downtown Durham -- entirely on greenways.

A question once difficult to answer for a lack of options becomes one difficult for a wealth of them. Difficult, but we'll try anyway.

We've been informally polling parks planvners and greenway enthusiasts about their favorite greenways, and we've come up with a list of five. If they aren't on your list, it may be because you aren't familiar with them.

Take the summer to introduce yourself.

The five favorites are:

White Oak Creek, Cary

Middle Crabtree Creek Greenway, Raleigh

Bolin Creek Greenway, Chapel Hill

American Tobacco Trail, Durham

Beaver Creek Greenway, Apex