Was getting at is that if I’m reaching out and not getting a response, then Im sure others are too.
What I think will really help is the Weld and Rockway opening up. Introducing a bunch of residents directly next to the greenway will increase traffic and reduce this sort of thing. Though, they need a reason to come to this area versus a better maintained lake johnson and lake raleigh.
I live close to here. The whole area has gotten progressively sketchier given the tents across from Healing Transitions - and the ones back along the greenway. Lots of people that walk through adjacent neighborhoods at night knocking on doors, checking to see if car doors were left unlocked, lifting items off porches, broken liquor bottles/needles across the ground, etc.
Aside from the assault over the weekend, the fact that some of these camps have been starting fires is the most concerning thing in recent months.
Does anyone know what time the Meredith College gates close? I think it’s around sunset, but not sure if it is longer now? With it getting dark so early now, and that is the safest way to maneuver around that area, I would love to see a proposal to have that kept open.
@eat_bike_repeat
Here’s a link (Click here) to where I complained about Meredith College last November.
According to that post, the gates were closed at 5:30PM. I’ve run into the gate being closed with the sun being out around 7AM this year already. Due to this, my normal e-biking commute is either on St. Mary’s > through Glenwood Ave > Hillsborough St. or using greenway > Glen Eden > Sussex > Oberlin. I’m usually on my class 3 ebike, but I’ve also ridden on my non e-bike these ways as well. I consider myself a more experienced rider so I understand why people would not take this route.
You could take Faircloth > Wade Ave > and then jump on House Creek Greenway. There was plans to put in the cycle track on Faircloth, but according to @Brian (Click here), it’s more than likely not going to be done until 2026-2027.
I would also like to note that the flyer shown in my post above, the repairs were “hoping” to be completed around July 4th. I’m assuming that was the 2nd phase with the 3rd phase being the painting which was going to take 1 month. Last week (November 13th at around 7PM) the greenway under 440 was blocked off again. Whoever came up with this estimate clearly has poor forecasting, fortune, or psychic skills. That or the work performed here is complete garbage which also explains how the area looks under here now with some of the garbage being left behind.
Thanks for the comments. I think there is some low hanging fruit that Raleigh could tackle to making the wider system better. I get there will be closures, so I won’t go into that. I find it comical that they close these gates that a 6 year old could jump over (near Hillsborough) versus keeping the greenway open for its’ intended use on such a high use section of Raleigh’s system. There is a higher fence up around a large section of this greenway already, so I’m not sure what they are protecting against?
My other gripe is … Leaves! You will never stop people putting leaves in the bike lane. If we are going to promote a safe biking infrastructure, could the city dedicate extra leaf pickups in the bike lanes they have? I don’t think there would be too many roads this is an issue on, but especially as it is getting dark out early, I don’t want to have to worry about riding the edge of the leaf pile and being safe with cars behind me.
I think they are doing a decent job with extending the biking lanes or greenways to connect certain areas. You could always do better, but I find the system has been consistently getting better each passing year.
I have a cousin who lives in N. VA and he wiped out on a greenway trail two weeks ago because of wet leaves. Broken shoulder, disc and forced retirement from flying as a pilot for a major airline because he was out when they airlifted him. Serious stuff.
More signs that “Do not use trails alone” and this makes me wonder did RPD ever solved the murder on the trail near Saunders Street a few years ago?
This area is probably the most sketchy of all greenways in raleigh. I have done about 1200 miles of greenway in the last 3 months, running and cycling regularly. I run a loop including this section at least once a week. IDK why folks are allowed to build camps here. There is even a partially disabled woman living near there who has a full sized goat as a pet…come on
Really wish the police would do anything about it but I just don’t see it happening. We can’t even get wood board replaced on this greenway, while we build suspension bridges and raised switchbacks in N. Raleigh greenways…
Hi all. I completely understand and share all of the concerns and frustrations about the safety and the condition of the Walnut Creek greenway. I use this greenway more than any other. To my knowledge the murder of Chauncey Depew has not been solved. Additionally, a pregnant woman was killed behind a greenway adjacent building on Lake Wheeler Road in 2007. That murder is also unsolved.
RPD does have a greenway unit, but of course it’s understaffed - I think maybe 4 officers? I’ve biked more than 3k miles on the greenway this year and have never run into one of the officers. We also have the greenway volunteer program - maybe I need to look into this and participate myself.
In better news . . . the WC greenway will receive $10M in improvements between Lake Wheeler Road and Sunnybrook Road. Design of the improvements is being done by McAdams. They presented to BPAC on this project last Monday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPc0xggWzxg presentation begins at around 15:47.
@OakFolk I agree that once the Weld and Rockway are occupied we should see many more people on this section of greenway. Hopefully the upcoming improvements and direct access will encourage more use by future residents. The Rockway was originally supposed to have a greenway on the building side of the creek and a bridge over to the existing greenway. Not sure if that’s still in the plans.
@wroncsu the encampments in the area certainly don’t help give a perception of safety. What seems to happen is they get kicked out of one area and then just pop up in another area. It’s a complicated problem - wish I knew the answer.
@wanderer I have reconfirmed that the Faircloth cycle track won’t begin construction until 2027 at the earliest. I’m as frustrated about this as everyone else. Just reporting what I know.
@eat_bike_repeat yeah, the leaves in the bike lanes suck. BPAC ran a pilot program with the city last year to get a sense of the equipment and manpower needed to keep the lanes clear during leaf season. Essentially we need way more resources than we’re ever going to get. We invested in two mini-street sweepers to keep bike lanes clean, but they don’t have dedicated trailers or staff to operate them. Then one of them got stolen and totaled. I’m not even making this up. The only thing that’s worked for me is to report bike lanes that are blocked by leaves and other debris through see-click-fix. If multiple people report the same issue it seems to get dealt with faster.
Finally, it really does have an impact if you show up to BPAC and PRGAB meetings and speak about issues of concern during the public comment period.
And if you are not already a member of Oaks & Spokes, I beg of you to please join. When O&S advocates before city council we need to demonstrate that we are representing a much larger share of the Raleigh public than current membership numbers suggest.
p.s. ~10ish mile greenway ride this Saturday at 9am being put on by Friends of the Raleigh Greenway. Starts at Lockwood Park. Very chill pace, all are welcome. I will be there.
This is some good insight, thanks. My general observations from watching the progress of bike infrastructure the past few years has been:
(my guess is the two are highly related)
@Brian, if you had to rattle off a few things that you think would make the biggest difference in seeing more things get done faster – what would they be? Does the city council as a body lack political will? Are they supportive enough but simply unable to dedicate more money at this time? Do we need dedicated funding in a new transportation bond? NCDOT gets in the way? Something else?
My understanding with the Faircloth cycle track is that there was some sort of push back from Meredith college and concerns about security. I’ll try to get more info and share if I can.
One issue we’ve had is staff turnover. I’ve been on BPAC since 2021 and in that time we’ve had 3 bike and ped program managers.
Of course funding will always be an issue, unless you live in Bentonville, AR.
A bigger problem is on-street parking, and the removal thereof. This is a major issue. The city can bring a project almost to the point of construction and all it takes is a couple of emails to council members from residents and/or business owners angry about losing their on-street parking and the whole thing comes to a halt. This is happening right now on Brookside Drive.
Yes, NCDOT is an issue, particularly the Strategic Transportation Investment Law. TL:DR No NCDOT funding can be used for standalone bike/ped projects. Any bike/ped improvements must be done in the context of car-first infrastructure projects.
We need to look at quick-build/pilot type programs that give neighborhoods and communities the opportunity to put forward ideas and funding to support what they want to see in their areas. Indianapolis has a new program called Community Powered Infrastructure that I’ve been looking at and have mentioned to staff. Hoping to have a more meaningful conversation about this.
Oaks & Spokes needs to become a more powerful organization. I think they’re doing great things and they are definitely growing, but I would like to see the membership up in the multi-thousands instead of just the multi-hundreds. As a cycling community we need to figure out how to convincingly demonstrate demand for infrastructure without risking life and limb on unsafe roads.
WTF? Maybe the need to change their name form Department of Transportation, to the Department of Cars.
I live just off Brookside, out of curiosity what’s that project / where is it running into difficulties?
I moved near Crabtree back in 2020. Part of the major selling point was being really close to the greenway. Previously I was at RTP. When I was moved here, the greenway had a section closed just south of North Hills drive. There was work being done for erosion control. Shortly after this, the bridge across Mine Creek also caused a closure. Later on, the greenway was again closed near 440 due to sewer work. Now we have it irregularly closed due to the 440 bridge work. I understand closures, but 4 years in the same section is ridiculous.
The gate under Wade Avenue is the bigger problem.
If it’s not leaves, it’s cars. If it’s not cars, then it’s buses. If it’s not buses, then it’s police officers (I see this quite a bit right in front of the court house). I’ve gotten used to it and it doesn’t bother me as much anymore. But I’m me and I won’t blame anyone else for not wanting to bike.
I’m more of a yes and no on this. Again it might be good that they put “bike lanes”, but if there’s leaves, cars, or trash bins in them, then you may as well not have them. I do love a lot that was done so don’t get me wrong. My favorite completions have been Crabtree Creek West, the Oberlin bike lanes, and the St. Mary’s bike lane just south of Wade Avenue. I would like bike lanes at the intersection. I’m either stuck between cars at a red light (and hoping I don’t get sandwiched) or forced to end up on the sidewalk.
It is what it is. I actually biked on Faircloth today on my way home from work. I didn’t use Meredith college since I figured the gate was closed due to it being dark. I also know that House Creek is going to be closed soon so I also ended up on Ridge Rd. If anything, I’m now only frustrated that things come across as “we put in bike lanes and no one uses them” when they’re not a good system at all. I use them, but more now as a reason to avoid a car payment. We are a one car household.
I don’t understand why Meredith college has any say in the Faircloth cycle track. Isn’t this going to be configured in the road right of way? Security makes sense on the side that goes through the campus itself (even though I say that’s a bit of a stretch). There’s also 2 way bike lanes on Faircloth already. The only change appears to be moving the lanes to one side. It seems to be that it should be one of the easiest projects to implement.
On a completely separate note in regards to biking: I would definitely like to say that after my riding today, I definitely would be an advocate for multi-use paths over bike lanes (I pretty much already was). My riding started with a commute from near Crabtree to work on Fayetteville St. Afterwards, I ended up heading home and then went on to trivia at Sneaky Penguin Brewing company. During my ride home, I decided to ride down the sidewalks on Six Forks Rd. Granted it was late and there wasn’t a ton of traffic, but the ride on down Six Forks Rd this late was really relaxing. I was on my ebike, but lowered the assist so that I didn’t need to charge as much for my work commute tomorrow.
Here are some useful links for the Greenways in the triangle-
Map of every greenway in the triangle with street connections www.bit.ly/ncgreenway
Gdoc that has routes, tips, times to ride your bike to/from the three triangle train stations and then take the train back. www.bit.ly/bikeamtrak
DM if questions
Bike lanes were unanimously approved by council at their meeting on 10/1/2024. Brookside was already slated for bike lanes in the existing bike plan, but the project was quickly moved up the list as the best alternative to address a current safety issue. Paint was supposed to go down within 45 days of approval. We’re obviously past that point. The reason is that a few residents learned that they might lose their on-street parking to bike lanes and have complained to their city council member. If you support bike lanes on Brookside please reach out to your council representative. He needs to know that the neighborhood supports bike lanes.
This is a huge problem. We don’t build roads that don’t go anywhere but we do build bike lanes that begin and end at random locations.
It’s political. The entire cycle track is being redesigned. I’ll find out more and share if I can.
Exaclty - If anything, if Faircloth cycle track would take traffic off of the greenway that goes through and around their campus that is closed at night. It should help Meredith with their safety concerns.
Is this for the section between glasscock and the circus intersection? I never see anyone part on brookside there. Seems like a no brainer for a bike lane.
This is surprising and also not necessarily true given the fact that there is no parking currently allowed on that stretch of brookside so not sure where someone is arguing that they’re “taking away parking.” The entire rationale behind moving the installation of these lanes up and making them protected was that a) it will help to serve the biking population of Conn where you already have a large number of 5-10 year olds biking to school both with and without parents, and b) if the city put “temporary parking” in there as an interim traffic calming step, it would be politically impossible to take away the existing parking spots in order to provide safe/protected bike infastructure here.
Brian do you know who the RDOT project manager on this is? Corey was on the committee that approved the recommendation so surprising that he’s now pausing implementation on this, most of the “let’s slow walk it” at the transit/transportation committee meeting seemed to be coming from staff.