Safety Evaluation for ATT Crossings in Chatham and Wake
With the much increased use of the Chatham section, TRTC, numerous users and some nearby property owners have contacted NCDOT and staff from Cary to express their concerns about the dangers at trail crossings and for users parking and unparking cars near these crossings. In an effort to provide safe and effective at-grade crossings along the trail, the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, the Wake County Board of Commissioners, and the Town of Cary Town Council have passed resolutions asking NCDOT to perform in-depth safety evaluations of each crossing in Wake and Chatham. Please see a copy of the Joint Resolution for details. Please pay particular care and attention when crossing O'Kelly Chapel Road, particularly if you have children, dogs or horses. Due to the speed of traffic and the limited sight lines, O'Kelly Chapel is arguably the most dangerous road crossing along the trail.

Another Haul from Recent Workday on the ATT
On February 28, over 20 members of the Psi Upsilon fraternity at Duke University came out for a second pass at removing the old appliances and trash from the woods adjacent to the new Phase E section of the ATT near Masey Chapel Road. Their initial ATT workday on January 24th produced a similar haul. We estimate that the group's efforts have removed about 90% of the trash from this area. Click HERE to see the group and the latest pile. We also want to thank the Impact Team from the City of Durham who efficiently pick up these large hauls to keep the roadside looking nice.

Bridging Rails-to-Trails--A Documentary on the ATT
After several years of preparation, Carol Thomson has now posted her documentary on the history of the American Tobacco Trail. A formal presentation of the documentary is scheduled for 7-8pm on March 24th, at the Durham Arts Council theater.The recent release includes a historical slide show and a video of tobacco production in Durham and videos of the Apex Street bridge removal, the role of equestrian efforts in western Wake County and a short clip on Norfolk Southern use of the corridor, Jordan Lake's construction and the New Hope Valley Railroad, showing how all relate to the trail's history and development. A video on the newly completed Chatham section wil be added soon.

NC Rail Trails Seeks Executive Director

North Carolina Rail-Trails (NCRT), a private, non-profit 501(c)(3) North Carolina corporation, seeks an Executive Director, who will be responsible for leadership, development and management of all NCRT programs and activities. The position will be the first staff position for NCRT, founded in 1989, which has until this time been an all-volunteer organization. The ideal candidate will be a service-oriented manager with successful experience in fundraising, advocacy, and board management and development. If you would like more information on the requirements, responsibilities and compensation of this position, please see the the full position description on the NC Rail-Trails site.

Workday on South Durham Section of ATT

On December 12th, 14 students from Green Hope High School came out to help us clean-up a large collection of discarded household appliances and other trash near the crossing of Massey Chapel Road and the ATT. Much of this was in the nearby woods and required much pushing and dragging to get it to the road. Thanks to all who helped. Here are some pictures of the volunteers and their haul. Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3

TRTC's End of the Year Report

As the year closes out, please take a minute to look at our 2009 Report

Openings on TRTC's Board of Directors

TRTC will have two openings on it's Board for one year terms beginning in January 2010. If you are interested in working to enhance and maintain existing local trails, promoting new rail-trails in the Triangle area and in other activities supporting local trails you may want to consider serving on our Board. We meet on the first Monday of each month at the Woodcroft Community Center. If you have questions concerning TRTC's Board, please contact Bill Bussey or Curt Devereux.

The Triangle's Newest Full and Half Marathon--March 2010

The newly formed Tobacco Road Marathon Association (TRMA) has announced the first-ever marathon starting in Cary and traversing the American Tobacco Trail. The race is confirmed for March 21, 2010 starting at 7 a.m. TRMA is a group of highly experienced marathon runners and athletic event production managers headed by Cid Cardoso Jr., the president and founder of Inside-Out Sports, and five-time Boston marathon veteran Kazem Yahyapour. The scenic course includes 18 miles of the American Tobacco Trail for the marathon and 7 miles for the half. Runners will start from the USA Baseball/Thomas Brooks Park complex in Cary. Plans call for proceeds to go to the Wounded Warriors Project, American Heart Association and the Triangle Rails to Trails Conservancy (TRTC). Details about the event including online registration and training tips can be obtained through TRMA's Web site at Tobacco Road Marathon. You can also become a friend of "Tobacco Road" on Facebook.

New Frequently Asked Questions Page Initiated

To respond to various questions we have received, we have initiated a FAQs page to address them. These initial entries are only a start, we intend to expand this page substantially over the next few months. If you have a question on triangle area rail-trails, feel free to email us and we'll try to get you an answer. If it is of general interest we'll also post the Q & A on this page. Feel free to contact Bill Bussey or Curt Devereux

Fall 2009 Little Toot Newsletter Available
Articles on the Deep River Rail-Trail and coming events of North Carolina Rail-Trails.

Article on Chatham ATT Section on WTVD
Work on both bridges is nearing completion. Paving and screenings are largely complete from O'Kelly Chapel Road south. Paving from O'Kelly Chapel Road north to the Durham County line should be completed during November. See a October 19th article from WTVD TV for a recent bridge picture and remarks by Joe Godfrey of Cary Parks.

Grant for ATT Connector Project in Durham Approved
In September 2009, TRTC was notified that it's Adopt-A-Trail grant application to grade and pave a short connector to the ATT has been approved. Funding for this program was put on hold this Summer but we now expect to receive our contract by mid-October. With this grant, some donated materials and lots of volunteer efforts we plan to widen, grade and pave a 115' trail from the ATT to Lawson Street. Residents of the nearby Southside area of Durham have been interested in having this improved access to the ATT for some time and will assist us in upcoming workdays over the next few months.

Initial Phase of Deep River Rail Trail Opened
On September 19th local and state officials, volunteers and many from the Deep River Steering Committee participated in opening the initial .75 miles of the planned 18 mile Deep-River rail-trail. About 60 people attended the ribbon cutting in Franklinville including NC Secretary of Commerce, Keith Crisco. The planned trail will eventually connect Ramseur, Franklinville and Cedar Falls. This initial section is 8' feet wide and has a granite screenings surface over a stabilizing geo-textile material. TRTC has participated in several workdays at Deep River and will be involved when resources for the next phase are obtained. For pictures and descriptions of the Deep River Trail please see the Deep River Rail Trail Concept Brochure and MAP. Please see the Fall 2009 Little Toot for opening pictures and notes on plans for the trail.

Construction Pictures of Chatham Section of ATT
Work is moving well on the trail in Chatham. Screenings have been applied from the Wake County line to New Hope Church Road. Progress on both bridges is going well. New images of recent construction were added to PHOTOS 25 on July 27th.
Please Remember--this section is still a construction area and is not open for use. Current estimates call for construction on the Chatham section to be completed by late December.

Spring Newsletter from NC Rail-Trails Available

Durham Trailhead Transferred to City of Durham
After numerous delays, the City of Durham has acquired the Fayetteville Road Trailhead from the Triangle Greenways Council. For the near future, TRTC will continue its periodic mowing and other maintenance of the trailhead. Trailhead users may notice a new drainage grate which we installed in early May at the opening of the connector trail.

Rendering of I-40 Bridge Now Available
The City of Durham has made available an image showing how the proposed bridge might look when in place spanning the highway. See our ATT page for a link. Bull City Rising offers some interesting background on the project.

National Trails Day Workday--June 6th, 2009

For this year's Trails Day, TRTC held a half-day workday starting at 9am to pick up trash on the ATT and the Riddle Road Spur east from Hillside High School in Durham. We picked up lots of trash, especially in the wooded area between the trail and the high school. Here is a picture of several of our volunteers near bags of trash and recyclable items collected on the Riddle Road section.

Durham Detours Portion of American Tobacco Trail for Bridge Demolition--May & June 2009
Users of Durham’s American Tobacco Trail should take note of a temporary detour to accommodate the Apex Street Bridge demolition work that is now underway.
The City of Durham’s Department of Public Works is beginning the next step in completing a new trail connection from the Southside/St. Theresa Neighborhood to the American Tobacco Trail. The demolition of the Apex Street Bridge is the second component of the project and will take place over the next few weeks. The first step in the project has been completed with the construction of a new ramp connecting the American Tobacco Trail to Apex Street. Due to the bridge demolition, a detour of the American Tobacco Trail is required between West Enterprise Street and Apex Street and began on May 27, 2009. The detour will remain in place for approximately four weeks.

Users of the American Tobacco Trail should note that the trail will not be passable from West Enterprise Street south to Apex Street during this period and they will be required to use a detour. American Tobacco Trail traffic between Apex Street and West Enterprise Street will be diverted from the trail to Fargo Street. The newly constructed ramp will serve as an access point for the detour. Signage providing directions to the detour will be posted on the trail.
For additional information regarding this project, including a map of this scheduled detour, visit the City's web site or contact Kyle Butler, civil engineer with the City’s Department of Public Works, at (919) 560-4326 or via e-mail at kyle.butler@durhamnc.gov

Rail Corridor in Northern Durham County to be Assessed
See our Photos Gallery for a description and pictures of an abandoned corridor near Panther Creek that may someday be a rail-trail.

Public Input for Rail with Trail along SE High Speed Corridor (04-19-09). Planning to support the Southeast High Speed Corridor has added a trail concept to SEHSR from Petersburg to Neuse River at Raleigh. Four (4) local workshops open to the public were held in North Carolina during May and June. The website presents information on the alternative routes under consideration and links to numerous studies of rail-trails in other States. For further information on the progress of impact studies and other work being done by the NC Rail Division please contact David Foster dbfoster@ncdot.gov

Opinion Piece on Need for Trails Stimulus in NC

2008 End of Year Message from Triangle Rails to Trails

Please Remember the American Tobacco Trail in your Year End Gifts
Thank you for your support of the Triangle Rails to Trails Conservancy! We have had an exciting year of progress in the development of the American Tobacco Trail. Construction has begun on the trail in Chatham County, including the long-anticipated bridges over Panther and Northeast Creeks. Anticipated completion is this coming June 2009. This will make the ATT an uninterrupted 13+ miles in length when measured from the southern end of the trail in Wake County.
We have been excited to finally see progress on planning for the bridge over I-40 and connecting trails in Durham. Expected for completion by the end of 2010, this four mile-long section will finally complete the American Tobacco Trail.
This progress is a direct result of the petition many of you signed almost two years ago! Thank you to many of you for your participation at several very well-attended public meetings and for sending in your comments to the City of Durham. TRTC coordinated "getting the word out" for these meetings, and have worked with Durham staff to do a better job at planning the ATT. We look forward to monitoring and advocating for completion of these projects over the next few years.
We are grateful to our loyal volunteers whose help is essential for regular weekly trail maintenance and special projects. Up until this past October, TRTC volunteers maintained over 7.5 miles of trail in southern Durham and Chatham County as well as two access areas. Though we are now down to 3 miles in southern Durham, plus the two access areas, we still need your volunteer and financial help. Sign up here for our volunteer reminder list. Join us every week, once a month, once a quarter or once a year.
Our special accomplishments in 2008 include a partnership with the Godiva Track Club to install a connector trail to Solite Park, as well as completion of construction of the parking trailhead on Fayetteville Road in Durham. These are used by hundreds each month to access the ATT. We've also been working with the Friends of the Deep River Rail-Trail in Franklinton to build North Carolina's newest rail trail. This is a neat project which will truly be a boon to the area. (see item below for more info)
Our work will continue in 2009 and beyond. We are currently starting work with the Southside Community to build a connector between the ATT and South Street at Lawson Street near downtown Durham. This will offer easy access between the ATT and schools, churches, NC Central and Roxboro Road. We still need donations to make this happen.
We have a list of 16 needed but currently unfunded projects on and near the ATT in Durham to make it even better. Email Bill Bussey and we'll be happy to send you the list. We'll be working with various partners to move them to fruition in 2009.

MAPS You can print out our latest ATT map right here.
This is our new color ATT map done by Wayne Horton of Winston-Salem.

Donations of any amount are gladly accepted and needed. TRTC will continue to apply for trails-related grants, but funds from memberships and donations remain an important mechanism for acquiring tools and supplies used in our year-round efforts to maintain the ATT and other local trails. We need donations and memberships to pay for our trail workday insurance as well as to assist in matching grant funding. TRTC will continue to build the facilities and amenities that the managing and building partners will not and cannot in the years ahead.

Again, please help keep the American Tobacco Trail moving toward completion and make it even better. Contribute NOW to TRTC. You can even pay online by PayPal if you like.

On behalf of the Board of the Triangle Rails-to-Trails Conservancy we'd like to wish you a wonderful holiday season.

Thank you for your continued support.

Dan Clever        Bill Bussey

President           Vice President

New Rail-Trail Under Development in Randolph County

Construction of the first 3/4 mile was completed in November 2008 in Franklinville. The Deep River Rail-Trail (DRRT) in Randolph County follows an abandoned 18-mile railbed once used by the Atlantic and Yadkin Railroad (1897-1980). This shady, peaceful trail passes an old native American fish weir. The nearby town of Ramseur plans a 3.5 mile eastward extension, and Franklinville plans to lengthen the trail westward to Cedar Falls. TRTC sponsored two workdays at DRRT in 2008. Future efforts by TRTC will be announced through the weekly Emails to TRTC Volunteers. Have questions? Want to volunteer? Contact: Perry Conner:(336)549-4908 or Harvey Harman:(919)799-6819 or AL Capehart (w/ North Carolina Rail-Trails) 919-542-0022. Click on the following links to see views of a very wooded trail section, the fish weir, and the nearby river:
     PIC #1   PIC #2   PIC #3   PIC #4
Concept Brochure for DRRT

Recent News (12/08) on Acquiring Duke Beltline Loop for Use as Durham Greenway

The City of Durham continues to push on what promises to be a long acquisition process. Durham has reserved some funding for this acquisition but Norfolk-Southern, the current owner, has so far been unwilling to accept Durham's offer. The City is now considering some type condemnation proceeding. For some flavor on this topic see the Bull City Rising Blog

Photos of New Fence at Solite Park

Work Has Started on Chatham Section of the ATT

See Several Construction Pictures showing construction near New Hope Church Road and O'Kelly Chapel Road

Construction of the Chatham section began on September 8, 2008. The following note from Joe Godfrey of Cary's Parks & Rec Dept. contains the particulars.

All,

I am pleased to inform you that the Town of Cary will be issuing Holmes Contracting, Inc. a Notice To Proceed with the construction of the Chatham County segment of the American Tobacco Trail. We anticipate beginning construction on September 8, 2008 and completing the project in June, 2009.

As you know the project consists of the construction of a 4.68-mile long multi-use trail with two typical sections as follows: beginning at the Wake-Chatham County line and continuing to the south side of New Hope Church Road, the first section of the trail shall consist of a 12-foot wide granite screenings surface. The second section of the trail shall consist of a 10-foot wide asphalt surface and an adjacent 6-foot wide crushed stone surface from the north side of New Hope Church Road to the terminus of the project at the Chatham-Durham County line. The Project also includes the renovation of two wooden bridge structures, 157 and 170 feet long.

We anticipate that the project will be constructed in 4 sections which are listed below. The contractor will begin with the Wake-Chatham Co. Line to New Hope Church Road section.

Wake- Chatham Co. Line to New Hope Church Road
New Hope Church Road to Pittard Sears Road
Pittard Sears Road to O'Kelly Chapel Road
O'Kelly Chapel Road to Chatham - Durham Co. line

Please forward this email to any user groups that I may have missed.

Thanks, Joe

Joe Godfrey, RLA
Senior Park Planner
Town of Cary
Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources
PO Box 8005
Cary, NC 27512-8005
Ph: (919) 462-3863
Fax: (919) 469-4344
Email: joe.godfrey at townofcary.org

East Coast Greenway Decides on Triangle Route

It's not official, but according to Chuck Flink, chairman of the East Coast Greenway (ECG), the 3,000-mile greenway-in-the-works from Calais, Maine, to Key West, Fla. — about a fifth of which is done — the trail finally has a path through the Triangle. They're still working on where the ECG will enter the Triangle from the north, but from downtown Durham, it will follow this route: American Tobacco Trail south through Durham and Chatham County into Wake County. Near Green Level Road, it will head east on the White Oak Creek Greenway. In Cary's Bond Park, where the White Oak Greenway ends, the trail will pick up the Black Creek Greenway, which continues east and north. At Lake Crabtree, where the Black Creek Greenway ends, the trail will pick up the bike & bridle trail through Umstead State Park. On the east side of Umstead, the ECG will pick up the Crabtree Creek Greenway and head downstream to Anderson Point Park and the Neuse River Greenway. There, at Anderson Point, the ECG will hang a right and head down to Johnston County. The ECG is expected to continue down the Neuse to New Bern, where it will renew its journey south.
This latest info comes from Joe Miller's "Get Out! Get Fit! blog. Check out this link to his 7/29 blog for more and his commentary

Bid Opening on Construction Contract for Chatham Portion of ATT

A recent report from the Operations Committee of Cary's Parks Department summarizes the process for Cary's role in this effort. The Holmes Company submitted the lowest bid (of ten submitted) and Cary's Park staff has recommended that they receive the award. The final selection must be approved by NCDOT's Board of Transportation at their August 7th meeting.

National Trails Day Clean-up of Solite Park

On a very hot June 7th, TRTC volunteers removed large quantities of discarded junk from the ATT right of way adjacent to Solite Park. We removed parts of cars, numerous old appliances, many bottles and cans and loads of other stuff. Click HERE for a look at the pile shortly before we finished.

NBC17 Health Fair

TRTC's booth at the recent Health Fair received many visitors. We handed out several hundred local trail maps and fielded many questions on the progress of the various ATT construction projects. Click HERE for a picture of Board member Frank Bennett explaining ATT access to a visitor.

Fayetteville Road Trailhead Access

In 2008 TRTC has seen some progress in getting the trailhead property transferred to the City of Durham. Durham's Real Estate Department and the Triangle Greenways Council (a local Land Trust group that has been holding the property for us since 2002) are currently finalizing the transfer paperwork. We expect the City to have ownership by July. TRTC will be discussing management of the trailhead during the May/June period. The Trailhead has been open for public use since late May. On a recent workday we installed a very nice sign.

Second Community Meeting on I-40 Bridge Held April 29th

The second Community Meeting about the planned pedestrian and bicycle bridge crossing of I-40 for the American Tobacco Trail (ATT) was held on Tuesday, April 29, 2008. About 70 people attended. This meeting was hosted by the City of Durham Department of Public Works (and facilitated by Steven Grover and Associates).
Three proposed bridge designs are depicted in a printable PDF file. A 3D depiction of the three proposed designs can be seen in a recent posting in the Bull City Rising blog.

Durham's Publc Works Department has recently posted proposed schedules and information on the project on a new web site. Should you have any questions or input regarding this meeting, please contact Byron Brady, Contract Engineer, City of Durham at 919 560-4326 x 296 or byron.brady AT durhamnc.gov .

New Access Ramp Now Paved and Open at Durham's Solite Park--April 2008
See a photo of the finished ramp. This ramp should make access to and from the Park far easier than the steep, rutted path it replaced. The ramp was jointly funded by TRTC and the Carolina Godiva Track Club

Durham Area Greenways Highlighted On Google Maps

• Guide to the ATT (with history)
• Information on Volunteering with TRTC
• Donations Via PayPal
• Clothing Available with ATT Logos
• American Tobacco Trail and other trails in Chatham County
• American Tobacco Trail and other trails in Wake County
• American Tobacco Trail and other trails in Durham County
• Links To Other Trail Sites
• East Coast Greenway
• New Maps of ATT
• American Tobacco trail Endowment
• Article on Nature and the ATT
• 1999 News Archive

Tony Reevy, a Durham resident, history buff and Board member of NC Rail-Trails has compiled a guide to the ATT. It presents mile by mile descriptions of the trail as well as brief historical discussions of the various rail lines which ran on the corridor and notes a number of local landmarks. The Guide is available in the Portable Document Format (PDF).

Donations Via PayPal

As of January 2004 you can make a donation to TRTC by credit card through PayPalJoin or Donate NOW using your credit card or electronic draft via PayPal  It's a quick and simple way to help us keep on developing local rail trails.

Clothing, Accesories Available with ATT Logos

A TRTC on-line store has been set up with Cafe Shops. Golf shirts, long and short sleeve T-shirts, hats, vests, bags, stickers and mugs are available with the American Tobacco Trail logo. By purchasing items from our store you will be helping to build the ATT in Durham, Chatham and Wake Counties.

American Tobacco Trail and other trails in Chatham County
See our archives for earlier Chatham County News

American Tobacco Trail and other trails in Wake County

See our archives for  earlier Wake County News

American Tobacco Trail and other trails in Durham County

See our archives for  earlier Durham County News

Please see the section on the Annual 1999 Meeting for other details on the construction and plans for trail heads.

Links to Other Trails

To assist users of the TRTC web site, we have initiated a Links page to provide a listing of site addresses of other rail trails and related projects around the country. Periodic additions are planned; if you know of sites that you feel should be added to our list please contact Curt Devereux at cdever@yahoo.com

East Coast Greenway

The First Annual East Coast Greenway Tour (at the site, click on the second bullet -labeled "here" at the top of the page) rode on the American Tobacco Trail and Ellerbee Creek Trails with a rest stop in Durham on October 12 and 13 2004.

Seven riders and two staff began their journey in Calais, Maine on September 12, and generally followed the future route of the East Coast Greenway down the coast to Key West, Florida with an arrival in early November.

The neat thing is that this is the first time any rider or group of riders have traversed a route which is known as the East Coast Greenway.

The East Coast Greenway (ECG) continues to make progress in North Carolina. Currently, the 6.5 miles of American Tobacco Trail currently open in Durham is a formally designated segment of the projected 2600 mile-long East Coast Greenway. The green and blue arrow East Coast Greenway signs are already up on the trail. Durham has given us permission to install some ECG informational signage and a list of North Carolina Mile Sponsors on the back side of the kiosk at the Morehead Avenue trailhead across from the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. This was installed in the Spring of 2004.
See our ECG News page for more news and contacts.

The East Coast Greenway (ECG) will be an 85% off-road greenway trail up the East Coast. As planned it will stretch from Key West to Calais, ME. The planned route takes it through Boston, New York, Trenton, Philadelphia, Washington, Richmond, Durham and Raleigh, Fayetteville, Wilmington, Charleston, and then down Florida's east coast to Key West. The ECG can best be described as a "Trail Connecting Cities".

See the ECG site  for more on the route.
New Maps of American Tobacco Trail

Durham has prepared a detailed map of the Durham portion of the ATT and all intersecting roads and highways. This new (3/2001) map includes the location of mile posts and will be posted at trail kiosks to be placed along the trail.

In late Fall 2000, the Geographic Information Systems group at Triangle J Council of Governments prepared an Updated ATT Map. This map and the accompanying text have been used to prepare a new ATT brochure. This current version focuses on landmarks on or near the Durham section and is available at the City/County Parks & Rec. offices at 403 Blackwell St. (in the DBAP office complex). As the sections in Wake and Chatham are opened for use, TRTC plans to revise the map and text and will make it available to trail users in those Counties.
The current text for the map    is in the Portable Document Format (PDF) and can be viewed with the Adobe Reader.

American Tobacco Trail Endowment

At it's September 2000, meeting, the TRTC Board voted to devote at least 20% of our dues and donations to the newly established American Tobacco Trail Endowment Fund. This fund is being set up in conjunction with the Triangle Greenways Council, who will also contribute. The fund's goal is $10,000. (As of 11/30/2009 the Endowment stood at $5,549) This fund's proceeds will be used to pay for management and upkeep of the Fayetteville Road Trailhead, and potentially others, forever.
When the City or County of Durham or some other jurisdiction takes over the management of this important and convenient trailhead, the fund's proceeds will go toward improvements to the American Tobacco Trail, or other advocate managed trail projects in the Triangle. These proceeds will NOT go to the managing jurisdiction. Thus, your contributions will forever be working for trails in the Triangle. This will be an excellent way to show your support for the American Tobacco Trail and to trails and greenways in the Triangle.