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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.
Cross Charlotte Trail set to be open from Pineville to NoDa this spring
Presently, however, that segment is still in the design phase. So if you go looking for it — like Charlotte Observer visual journalist Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez and I did — you’ll find a labyrinthine subdivision, an apartment complex, maybe a Walmart. Target completion dates on at least one section are three years away. There are wayfinding guides up to help people get to the SouthPark Loop and the Cross Charlotte Trail, according to the city. Click here to see complete map of the trail, including which sections are complete and what has yet to be done.
Charlotte Building The Longest Biking Trail in NC – The XCLT
So we made the 3.5-mile return trip back to Kirk Farm Fields via UNC Charlotte, loaded the bike back in my SUV, and drove south. But we wanted to make a beeline toward uptown, and to do that, we had to hook a left onto the Toby Creek Greenway just a few minutes into our jaunt. Just a mile from the start, Toby Creek reaches the most scenic, most fitness-focused section of the campus of UNC Charlotte. If you follow Mallard Creek Greenway from Kirk Farm Fields and make no turns at intersections, you can head west for miles, under Tryon; beneath I-85; along the gravel trail that cuts through University Research Park; onto the Clark Creek Greenway that cuts north. You can park at Park Road Park in the middle lot, south of the duck pond, or at the tennis courts.
R&B Money Tour Comes To Queen City
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.
Follow the Cross Charlotte Trail across this map
In all, there are 11 segments of trail, stretching 30 miles from Pineville all the way to Cabarrus County. The newest section of trail is just over a mile and a half, but officials say it fills a critical gap, completely connecting an 18-mile stretch between NoDa and the South Carolina state line. The trail combines transportation options with recreation amenities as a way to encourage residents to drive less and exercise more. The long-term project is a collaborative effort between Charlotte city government and Mecklenburg County government.
family members drown after falling in creek on Tennessee trail
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.
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.
An extension of NoDa: Developers build out "The Pass" near Sugar Creek light rail - Axios
An extension of NoDa: Developers build out "The Pass" near Sugar Creek light rail.
Posted: Thu, 11 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
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.
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As for this stretch of the Little Sugar Creek Greenway, which was largely new to me, it’s breathtaking — full of hidden-gem urban green spaces and eclectic points of interest from tiny to huge. Within a few hundred yards from the crest of the hill, we were on the regular sidewalk that runs along Rockland Drive. Around the 3-mile mark, after navigating gentle bends and concrete boardwalks through/over a pretty, peaceful swath of wetlands, we came to the street crossing at Rocky River Road West. In the not-too-distant future, the northernmost tip of the XCLT will be the trailhead at North Tryon Street, just around the corner from PNC Music Pavilion. A run (or, more precisely, a pair of runs, since I decided to save my legs by spreading it over the course of two days) packed with surprises and pleasures, as well as a few pains.
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.
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.
— The City of Charlotte hosted a ribbon cutting to celebrate a new segment of the Cross Charlotte Trail Thursday morning. The new trail segment is located between Brandywine Road and Tyvola Road. A spokesperson for the City said the project has not been pushed back by the supply chain or inflation, but did not have a date for when the entire trail will be finished. The Brandywine-to-Tyvola segment is expected to be done by April 2023. Crews are working to extend the Little Sugar Creek Greenway from Brandywine Road to Tyvola Road. The project is one segment of the Cross Charlotte Trail that will eventually go from the South Carolina state line to the PNC Music Pavilion.
City leaders are holding a ribbon-cutting later this morning to officially open the section of trail. The map below shows the entire alignment of the trail from the South Carolina state line to Kempsford Drive near the Cabarrus County line.
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