Tag: Transportation

Local Update: Bolin Creek Trail Underpass

October 8, 2019 / odrozd

We’ve all been there…

You’ve pulled yourself away from your work, laced up your sneakers, and taken one last gulp of water before flying out the door. The beating North Carolina sun won’t make this run any easier, but the shady Bolin Creek Trail will.

Just as you’re settling into your run, you stop dead in your tracks. Who put a four-lane road in the middle of my trail?

After over a year of delays, Chapel Hill residents and visitors alike can anticipate another major improvement to the beloved Bolin Creek Trail. Construction of an underpass will route the three-mile concrete and asphalt trail beneath Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard near Hillsborough Street, eliminating the need to stop and cross the road at the intersection 200 feet away. According to Chapel Hill’s Parks and Recreation Planning and Development Manager, Bill Webster, construction on the underpass will resume on Wednesday, October 2nd.

Map of Chapel Hill trails, with the Bolin Creek Trail in purple. Photo credit: Town of Chapel Hill.

Webster cited the historic flooding from Hurricane Florence in 2018 and the ongoing coal ash remediation project on and around the Town’s Police Department headquarters as the causes of the delays.

While most of the greenway itself remained intact after Florence, many boulders in the creek were dislodged and relocated, obstructing the creek’s flow. Correcting the creek’s stream is imperative work that requires an in-stream subcontractor. Their work will focus on the segment of the creek near the underpass and will ensure various water quality, safety, and environmental standards are restored. The challenge for the Town was finding a start date for this crucial in-stream work to begin. The coal ash remediation project put this work on hold, and coupled with the high-demand from other communities for the subcontractor’s work in the aftermath of Florence, reaching an agreement on when to begin the in-stream work took longer than expected.

The Town and the in-stream contractor were both able to agree upon the October 2 start date. “It is kind of like if you paint a room, you don’t want to paint yourself into a corner. We have to do the in-stream work first and work our way out from there,” said Webster.

Pending reasonable weather over the next three to four months, the in-stream subcontractor can pass the baton on to S&C Construction, the Wilmington-based civil construction firm contracted for the project.

A bulldozer works on stabilizing the banks along the Bolin Creek. Photo credit: Town of Chapel Hill.

This segment of the Bolin Creek Trail has been one of the most challenging trail construction efforts undertaken by the Town. Building along the steep slopes next to a major stream requires expert planning, engineering, and execution in order to protect the delicate environment of Bolin Creek.

The Bolin Creek Trail project broke ground in June 2015 and receives funding through the Town’s 2001 and 2003 Parks Bonds, as well as from the Town’s Capital Improvement Fund, State grants, and citizen contributions (Town of Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation 2006). Currently, the trail is complete except for one 500-foot section east of MLK, which will connect the underpass to the existing trail.

Feature Image: The Bolin Creek Trail follows a natural S-curve in the stream bed. Photo credit: Town of Chapel Hill.

About the Author: Brandon Tubby is a fourth-year undergraduate at UNC-Chapel Hill majoring in public policy with a minor in urban studies and planning. His research interests include gentrification, complete streets, and sustainable development. He competes for the Tar Heels as a distance runner on the varsity cross country and track teams. Brandon’s running recently landed him in Flagstaff, Arizona, where he spent the summer training at 7000 feet elevation and interning with the city’s comprehensive planning department.

Citations
Town of Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation (2019). Capital and Maintenance Project Update. Retrieved from www.townofchapelhill.org/home/showdocument?id=43438.

Town of Chapel Hill Greenways Commission (2006). Comprehensive Master Plan. Retrieved from www.townofchapelhill.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=1396.

Town of Chapel Hill, NC (2019). Bolin Creek Trail. Retrieved from www.townofchapelhill.org/town-hall/departments-services/parksrecreation/facilities-greenways-parks/greenways/bolin-creek-trail.

Finding Your New Favorite Bike Route

October 26, 2017 / odrozd

Somewhere in the relief of cooler weather, the urgency of shortening days, and the beauty of the coming fall, is the drive to find a gradual slope and smooth descent. The only thing left to do is plan the ride. As a regular cyclist and a new North Carolinian, I looked through some of the tools I’ve previously used to plan new routes to see what they said about biking opportunities nearby. These are methods that can be used across the country for finding good local biking, or for getting more information to plan larger trips.

Understanding the Area

First, I checked into Strava, which bills itself as the “Social Network for Athletes.” This is a program that tracks and analyzes runs and bike rides, allowing athletes to share their routes and engage each other in friendly competitions. Weekend warriors, early morning runners, casual afternoon cyclists, and others regularly upload their adventures, complete with distances and times. Popular segments become sources of competitions, with people traveling out to them specifically to try for the best time on that stretch of road. Even better than that, because the information is tied to GPS devices, this tracking generates a whole host of mapped information that Strava is increasingly making more accessible.

One example of this is the Strava Heatmap, which represents every ride and/or run generated in a given year with colorful lines. This is, of course, a function of local density and individual affluence to a certain degree, but it is also a visual representation of locals’ knowledge. Because cyclists naturally gravitate towards comfortable roads in their given area, those that are friendlier to cyclists – smoother paving, wider shoulders, slower speed limit – get more use, and their path grows more brightly.

Strava bike heatmap for the US in 2015. Photo Credit: Strava Labs

To get a better idea of my locality, I zoomed in to see where people were riding the most within the Triangle. I adjusted the color to find the balance that was most clear for the scale of the map, and was instantly able to pick out darker threads. I checked them out further, and picked out a number of trails, as well as a ride out of Chapel Hill that I was familiar with in part because it had an ice cream shop along the way.

Strava bike heatmap for the Chapel hill area in 2015, annotated for major bike traffic. Photo Credit: Strava Labs

Working Towards Multi-Day Route Ideas

These tools are useful for working on multi-day routes as well. My friend and I have been considering the idea of taking time for a longer ride in the early Spring, so I opened up the possibilities for throwing my bike on the back of the car and starting a ride further away from home base.

In this instance, I had a starting place in mind. Because I had heard good things about it, I took a deeper look into the Blue Ridge Parkway. Google maps is a great starting point to get an initial idea for what a trip might entail. So, I simply let google maps fit a recommended bike route along the roadway. Very quickly, I got a snapshot of ride, which clocked in at 470 miles with just north of 45,000 feet of elevation gain.

Google Maps showing a distance and time estimate, as well as a small elevation profile for a bike route. Photo Credit: Google Maps

Finding Specifics

If it seems unlikely that you will able to find the time for a bike trip of that magnitude anytime in the near future, you’re not alone. These tools can be applied to breaking down and analyzing shorter segments. Here, I started to look into the options for taking on a two-four day adventure. I picked Asheville as a home base, and checked back into Strava. I used the “Segment Explore” tool to see what was popular and the area, and I quickly zeroed in on one hill in particular:

Popular hill bike route segments around Asheville, NC. Photo Credit: Strava

Mount Mitchell elevation profile. Photo Credit: Strava

Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi, is only a few dozen miles east of Asheville, and has a tie in to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s a brutal climb, with over 1,300 feet of vertical elevation gain, and some intensely steep sections.

I signed into Map My Ride, another training program that has a good interface for planning routes. I quickly laid out two multi-day options; one where Asheville was the major stopping point, and one where Asheville was the starting point. Both included a Mount Mitchell detour. And each can act as the perfect motivation to put in some hard training miles.

Two possible Asheville area bike routes generated by Map My Ride, complete with elevation profiles. Photo Credit: Map My Ride

These are tools that anyone can visit or sign up to use for free. Whether you’re planning your first ride, or your 100th century (a 100 mile ride), these programs can give you a well-documented idea of the route and everything it entails. Furthermore, comparing new routes to familiar ones is an easy way to get a quick snapshot of an upcoming, unknown ride. Prepare well, ride safe, and have fun.

About the Author: Nora Schwaller is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of City and Regional Planning, where she focuses on disaster recovery. Outside of class, Nora enjoys long bike rides and short walks, delicious food with good people, and casually perusing the design history of contemporary video games and systems. Prior to UNC, Nora worked in the architectural field in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Featured Image: Views from a previous cycling trip. Photo Credit: Nora Schwaller

Chapel Hill Town Council Candidates Speak on Issues of Affordable Housing and Transportation

October 24, 2017 / odrozd

Fall is in the air, and it’s time for municipal elections! On November 7, Chapel Hill registered voters will cast their ballots for candidates seeking four available Town Council seats. The Chapel Hill Town Council is comprised of eight members who serve four-year terms.

Recently, the local political blog OrangePolitics hosted a live online forum for the seven Town Council candidates. Participants included Allen Buansi, Hongbin Gu, Ed Harrison, Maria Palmer, Rachel Schaevitz, and Karen Stegman. Carl Schuler was unable to participate.

Questions from the live forum included several planning challenges that Chapel Hill currently faces. Affordable housing was a key concern, and candidates had varying perspectives on how that priority can best be achieved. Most candidates highlighted the need to rigorously address affordable housing and provide guidelines for infill development in the the update of the Land Use Management Ordinance.

Most of Chapel Hill’s affordable housing takes the form of mobile homes. The land upon which these home are sited is often rented or leased by the residents. But, as property values in the area increase, the land is also an attractive purchasing option for land developers. Understanding the housing needs of lower income individuals will require policy solutions informed by extensive outreach to lower income communities and partnership with organizations that have assisted in affordable housing efforts in the past.

Additionally, while the construction of accessory dwelling units is permitted in Chapel Hill, candidates disagreed on the guidelines and incentives for the creation of this small-scale infill housing.

Candidates also expressed differing opinions about the merits of the Durham-Orange Light Rail Project in its current form, but shared a commitment to ensure that the stations in Chapel Hill are developed to their fullest potential in terms of equity and economic development. In particular, the development of Gateway Station will provide opportunities to develop affordable housing, diversify the tax base through retail and office opportunities, and create important bicycle and pedestrian connections. Concerns among the candidates included resolving stormwater challenges on the site and ensuring mixed income housing is close enough to the station to provide easy access to the light rail.

A map of the proposed Durham-Orange Light Rail route. Photo Credit: GoTriangle.

Nine questions in total were asked during the live forum, and responses can be read in full here.

Remember to cast your vote on November 7!

About the Author: Catherine Peele is a second year Master’s of City and Regional Planning candidate from Albemarle, North Carolina. Her planning interests include transportation project prioritization methods and freight mobility. Outside of planning, Catherine enjoys exploring local parks and museums, supporting refugee resettlement efforts in the Triangle, perfecting classic Southern dishes and trying new recipes, and spending time with her two nieces.

Featured image: A local Orange County election site. Photo Credit: Amy Townsend/WUNC