Raleigh to close popular trail for repairs to get to the ‘roots’ of a problem
The trails around Lake Lynn are some of Raleigh’s most popular trails due, in part, to the many trees that line the lake loop.
But nearby trees mean nearby roots. And years of roots digging into the asphalt trail have caused cracks and uneven footing for the park’s nature lovers.
The city will close the east side of the Lake Lynn Loop Trail starting Sunday to fix some of the problems by repaving and widening the trail from 8 feet to 10 feet. The closure, expected to last until Nov. 1, will also give them time to fix grading and draining issues.
“They built it in an effort to try to create the type of environment that it has right now and that’s so popular,” said David Bender, capital projects manager for the city. “Where there are all these trees that are located directly adjacent to the existing paved surface.”
Now that means the city will scoop out the roots under the trail, add gravel and repave. When similar repairs were made at Lake Johnson the city had to cut down about 160 trees. Bender expects a similar number of hardwood and pines will have to come down at Lake Lynn.
“There was a lot of concern about the number of trees that were removed (at Lake Johnson),” he said. “But if you go out there you’ll see that there’s so much tree coverage out there that you really can’t even tell the trees were removed. And it’ll be the same there at Lake Lynn.”
A detour will be available on the west side of the lake, but access around the entire lake will not be available. Properties on the east side of the lake will no longer offer a direct connection to the lake, as access points shift to the community center or loop parking area.
The timing and length of the construction can’t be helped, Bender said.
“Can you tell me when the best time is to close the greenway?” he said with a laugh. “There isn’t any good time.”
The $1.1 million project was originally approved in the city’s 2014 parks bond with plans to repave the entire lake loop.
“Once we went in with preliminary engineering and design and cost estimating it became obvious we weren’t going to be able to pave the entire loop.” he said. “So what we did was evaluate what was the area’s most critical need.”
This story was originally published April 25, 2022 at 4:52 PM.
