American Tobacco Trail

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Revision as of 19:12, 6 May 2010 by Woozle (talk | contribs) (extracted section about crossing I-40)
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The American Tobacco Trail facing north near Fayetteville Road

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Earth: United States: North Carolina: Durham: American Tobacco Trail

Overview

The American Tobacco Trail (ATT) is a series of connected bike-and-pedestrian pathways running north-south through Durham, NC and forming an essential part of the planned East Coast Greenway. The term "American Tobacco Trail" also often refers specifically to the #South Durham section, which was the first completed stretch of the ATT.

Nomenclature

There seems to be some disagreement as to whether "American Tobacco Trail" refers to the entire planned 22 miles of north-south trail in the area, or just the section south of Durham ("South Durham section"). Most of the quasi-official documents found thus far seem to consider this the name of the entire trail, so we are going with that convention for now.

Sections

going from north to south

  • West Ellerbe Creek Greenway
    • Phase II (to be completed): from Westover Park (between Guess Road and Maryland Ave.), under I-85 alongside Club Blvd., and (eventually) up to South Point on the Eno.
    • Phase I: north from Trinity Ave. through most of Watts-Hillandale, to Westover Park
  • Downtown section: south from Trinity Ave., through downtown Durham on sidewalks and back-streets, and connecting to the South Durham section
  • #South Durham section (6.5+ miles, plus additional sections) (a.k.a. the American Tobacco Trail): south from underneath the Durham Freeway (147) to just north of I-40 where Fayetteville Road crosses over.
  • The #South of 40 section: south from Massey Chapel Road

South Durham

Abandoned log cabin in the woods about 1/4 of the way from the Cornwallis Rd. intersection to the MLK intersection, off the west side of the trail.

This is a converted former railroad right-of-way beginning at the south edge of downtown Durham and stretching to a "temporary end" just across NC-54 and I-40 from Southpoint Mall).

Intersections (from memory):

  • Enterprise St. in Forest Hills; not busy
  • Otis St. (neighborhood through-street, but usually pretty quiet)
  • Fayetteville Rd. (busy; traffic light and pedestrian crossing light/button)
  • Riddle Rd. (more fast than busy; button activates flashing yellow light to warn drivers)
  • (street behind school; not too busy, but vehicles do come along regularly)
  • Cornwallis Rd. (much like Riddle Rd.)
  • Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway (very busy; the crossing signal will "forget" your button-press if you do it too early in the cycle, so keep trying. The Hypertwins think that the city should put in a pedestrian/bike crossing a little way uphill of Cardinal Self-Storage South instead of making everyone cross at the intersection.)
  • Fayetteville Rd. (again) (busy; traffic light, pedestrian crossing light/button makes tone when it's safe to cross)
  • several suburban offshoot streets, mostly not too busy but with no signals

To reach the current "temporary end" of the trail 6.5 miles south of Durham, you have to turn right several yards short of the end of the straight-ahead part of the trail (which mainly goes to the small ATT parking area at the shopping center entrance off Fayetteville Rd.) to get to the final section of trail. The turn is not clearly marked as being the official continuation of the Trail; you have to look closely at the signpost (which is on the left, opposite the turnoff) and notice the little arrow pointing to the right.

This stretch runs around through Southpoint Crossing, a gated community and shopping center (the trail runs behind the shopping center with a hill separating it from vehicular traffic) and over to NC Highway 54, a busy road with 5+ lanes.

Plans are underway to build a bike/pedestrian bridge over I-40 to connect with the #South of I-40 section; in the meantime, there is a quite workable detour for safely crossing I-40.

South of 40

This stretch begins a block south of Southpoint Mall on Massey Chapel Road and continues unpaved for 13 more miles through the northeast corner of Chatham County (eventually to be paved) and into Wake County. It is effectively broken into 3 sections, however, by the absence of bridges at Northeast Creek and Panther Creek; both crossings currently have undecked railroad trestles which are in the process of being re-decked for ATT usage.

The trail's southbound terminus is currently on New Hill / Olive Chapel Rd., 22 miles south of Durham. "A 20-mile multiuse trail" beginning at this point and continuing on south "is in early discussions. It would extend to Harris Lake County Park and on to Raven Rock State Park on the Cape Fear River. Its working name: ATT South", according to the map accompanying a 2007-08-02 article in The News & Observer (p.5E).

Future Plans

The ATT is an essential part of the East Coast Greenway, a connected series of bike/pedestrian paths which will eventually the entire length of the United States east coast from Maine to Florida. "East Coast Greenway" signage is already in place along the South Durham section and possibly other completed portions of the ATT.

Businesses

Useful businesses located near the trail:

  • East Coast Chinese Food: inexpensive family-run Chinese food made to order, located (of all places) inside the Kroger in the shopping center at the end of the ATT. Very good, especially for the budget-minded. Lunch specials are cash-only, but there is an ATM about 20 feet away. They are informal and don't seem to have any problem serving sweaty, greasy bikers hot off the trail. Downside: the shopping center, despite their location right next to the ATT, does not seem to have a bike rack. We chained our bikes to the same chain used to secure a shaded picnic table outside Kroger, where they were kept under passive/unofficial observation by Kroger employees on break or waiting for their rides. --Woozle 17:16, 1 June 2007 (EDT)
  • Tobacco Trail Bicycle Rentals: at Solite Park just off the ATT where it intersects with Fayetteville Road

Links

Reference

Blogs & Commentary

Articles

News

Maps

2007-ATT-1.png 2007-ATT-2.png 2007-ATT-3.png 2007-ATT-4.png

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