I ran from one end of Charlotte to the other using only greenways or tried to, at least

Table Of Content

• The University of North Carolina at Charlotte
• Follow the Cross Charlotte Trail across this map
• Stay Connected!
• I ran from one end of Charlotte to the other using only greenways — or tried to, at least
• Brandywine-to-Tyvola greenway segment is finished
• Charlotte Building The Longest Biking Trail in NC – The XCLT

City council expects the entire Cross Charlotte Trail to take roughly three to four years for completion. Creating more Cross Charlotte Trail continuity is speeding up after many were shocked in 2019 to learn the major project was underfunded by $77 million. To celebrate the opening of the South Charlotte Connector, the City is encouraging users to snap a selfie on the trail using the hashtag #XCLT on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Once completed, XCLT will officially be the longest paved biking trail in North Carolina – you’ll be able to ride seamlessly from one end of Mecklenburg County to the other. The longest current trail is the American Tobacco Trail extending 22 miles from Durham to down to Wake County. This signature 31-mile greenway traversing Mecklenburg County is the epicenter of the Carolina Thread Trail and is critical to advancing regional trail development. The Cross Charlotte Trail is being completed through a partnership between the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.

Follow the Cross Charlotte Trail across this map

Now that the Brandywine-to-Tyvola segment finished, the Cross Charlotte Trail will be open from Pineville to NoDa. Crews were working to extend the Little Sugar Creek Greenway from Brandywine Road to Tyvola Road in August 2022. Megan Huggins, who was bicycling on the greenway with her two-year-old son in tow, told WCNC Charlotte she's excited for the construction to be done so she can ride from the Park Road Shopping Center to Park Road Park. Officials said the newest part of the plan cost more than $26 million, and six other segments have work going on right now. (WBTV) - The newest section of the Cross Charlotte Trail will officially open Thursday morning. The Signal Mountain fire and police departments were called to Rainbow Lake Trail on Sunday evening after two people were reported underwater, authorities said.

Stay Connected!

A gigantic improvement project is underway, and the result — according to the city and county — will be a widened greenway, better flood control and a restored stream bank. Until then, however, there’s a detour that runs along Kings on regular ol’ sidewalk. Last month, I spent a total of about four hours running a total of nearly 30 miles — roughly from the top of north Charlotte to the bottom of south Charlotte.

The concrete path that curves under Brandywine Road in the shadow of Park Road Shopping Center looks open, but we were met by three orange barrels and yellow “caution” tape at the next underpass — the one that dips beneath East Woodlawn Road. We parked at Cordelia Park in Villa Heights, walked down the steep hill to North Davidson Street, and followed the signs for the Little Sugar Creek Greenway that pointed northeast not knowing where we’d wind up. Just beyond that point, there’s a wooden boardwalk that curves up a hill that represents the steepest section of this stretch of Toby Creek Greenway. In fact, because the battery on Melissa’s borrowed e-bike wouldn’t power on (and because those bikes are so heavy), she had to get off and walk it to get to the top. Upon reaching the other side, you can look right to finally see the continuation of the greenway — and right in front of you, for the benefit of those coming up the trail from the south, a small “Greenway Continues” sign pointing in the direction from whence you just came. Not quite 2 miles in, we arrived at the intersection where the on- and off-ramps for the westbound lanes of East W.T. Harris Boulevard meet University City Boulevard.

The acceleration of construction along the trail will ultimately allow people like Bollinger and Leneave to keep challenging themselves to go as far as they choose. Much of the challenge for people like Bollinger and trail runner Carlin Leneave are places where the Cross Charlotte Trail abruptly ends, such as on the edge of Cordelia Park at North Davidson Street. That’s especially true near Cordelia Park in northeast Charlotte, which straddles the Plaza Midwood and NoDa neighborhoods. “The project was finished months ahead of schedule and we are thrilled to offer this new amenity for the community to use, especially during this challenging time,” said Imad Fakhreddin, senior engineering project manager. For more background on the project, we encourage you to read this article in the Charlotte Observer and Sustain Charlotte’s explanation of the situation.

While the Cross Charlotte Trail is one part of the greater Thread Trail network of trails and greenways, we have a stake in ensuring this continuous greenway is built as promised and planned. The Cross Charlotte Trail will be a 30-mile-long trail through Mecklenburg County that expands Charlotte's greenways. We’ve pulled together details and an interactive map to show you its planned route, offer updates on which segments are built or under construction, and detail plans for future segments. Use the arrows to navigate from the southwestern end of the trail south of Pineville and continue all the way to the Cabarrus County line.

Upcoming Projects for Bid - charlottenc.gov

Upcoming Projects for Bid.

Posted: Wed, 14 Jun 2023 18:20:47 GMT [source]

I’ve been on these greenways a lot, too, so I know well that their low-lying boardwalks and asphalt sections also flood easily; then, for days, they remain places where new running shoes go to be soiled by mud stains. The portion of the Little Sugar Creek Greenway that dips under East Morehead Street and runs almost at creek level past Atrium Health’s main hospital to Freedom Park is famously one of the most active segments of greenway. It’s also infamous for flooding after astonishingly brief downpours that lead to exasperatingly long “temporary” closures.

Passing by the center of the city

And, city council just approved the start of construction on a third section. (News Release) —  The City of Charlotte has completed a new trail connecting the McMullen/McAlpine/Four Mile Creek Greenway system to the Cross Charlotte Trail (XCLT) and Little Sugar Creek Greenway. The .75-mile-long trail, called the South Charlotte Connector, runs parallel to I-485 between McMullen Creek and Park Road near the Pineville City Limit. It features a boardwalk system and bridge over McMullen Creek near Charlotte Water’s McAlpine Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant. The trail expands access to the Cross Charlotte Trail by approximately six miles and to thousands of users.

The 0.3-mile-long trail creates a connection between the popular Park Road Park and the greenway system that makes up the Cross Charlotte Trail. “The park road portion, that can be really difficult connecting to the different parks,” Leneave added. “The connector is a game-changer for long-distance runners like me who need places to train. Having a dedicated path away from traffic is a huge benefit, and it opens up access between two large greenway systems. Now people won’t have to drive as far to get in a long run,” said Franklin Keathley, a member of the board of directors for the Charlotte Running Club.

Little Sugar Creek is more river-sized than creek-sized here, and seems clearer and cleaner along this path than it does closer to the city. The path itself is smooth, still-fairly-fresh asphalt, about 10 feet wide the entire way. There’s nothing resembling a hill, and in fact, if you’re going north to south, you’re very gently descending the whole time along with the flow of the creek.

Charlotte City Council recently approved the start of construction on the $3.8 million section that will run just under a mile from N. Another segment of the connector, which extends south from Park Road to the President James K. Polk State Historic Site, is currently in design and will be built by Mecklenburg County. It will connect to the Little Sugar Creek Greenway down to the South Carolina state line.

Longer-term, the county still hopes to connect those two points via trail. I feel like I have to blame the maintainer of the XCLT map on the City of Charlotte’s website for this one. If you look at it (which I did, closely and several times, in the Polk parking lot), you’ll see green all the way from Tyvola to Rea Road. Green corresponds to “Cross Charlotte Trail Existing” in the map key. But I found zero evidence of the continuation of a trail, anywhere.

“I run about 50 miles a week, and I cycle about 200 miles a week,” Bollinger said. He says the best workouts happen when he has an unfettered, free range of trails, paved walkway and greenways. “I’ve just become accustom to figuring out what the perfect out and back is,” he said. Learn more about this and other segments of the Cross Charlotte Trail at charlottefuture.com/xclt. The 30-mile-long pathway is part of Charlotte’s strategic mobility plan; investing in multimodal travel options that promote health and sustainability.

There are 11 total segments of the Cross Charlotte Trail, plus a bicycle boulevard that improves connectivity to the trail in North Charlotte. Freedom Park will always be the crown jewel of the county park system. It’ll always be one of the most attractive pit stops on the XCLT. But the brand-new section that starts a mile to the south is going to steal away a lot of attention this year.

At this point, logistical issues were starting to become a hindrance. I floated the idea of taking surface streets for 6 miles to get to the next completed part of the XCLT in NoDa, but with little conviction. One, there’s not yet any signage (on this side of the street, anyway) indicating that the greenway continues on from here. An asphalt path off to the left heads up UCity Boulevard but leads nowhere. Across the street, the only thing in sight, really, is cookie-cutter development in the form of a Dunkin Donuts, an Arby’s, a Starbucks, an Orangetheory, etc. The day is coming when the massive City of Charlotte/Mecklenburg County project known as the Cross Charlotte Trail (aka the XCLT) will seamlessly string together several greenways to create a looong, winding, 30-plus mile route from University City to Piper Glen.