West Ellerbe Creek Trail

The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

About

West Ellerbe Creek Trail is a bicycle/pedestrian trail in Durham, NC that currently runs from Indian Trail Park (off Albany Street near the eastern edge of Hillandale Golf Course) east-northeast along the western portion of Ellerbe Creek to intersect with Stadium Drive Trail.

I-85 tunnel

A highlight of the trail is the tunnel under I-85 between Guess Road and the North Pointe Shopping Mall. Although the tunnel itself was build in the twenty-aughts, the trail did not open until 2018. Here's what happened:

Right-of-way along Ellerbe Creek northeast of the tunnel was donated in the 1990s by the shopping centers on its east side.
The tunnel itself was built during the remodeling of I-85 sometime between 2003 and 2009 (circa 2005, but not sure of exact year).
The trail's design phase was complete by 2010-07-15, but no funding for construction was available.
By the time construction funding was first available, the course of the stream had shifted so that the planned path route caused environmental issues and had to be re-planned.
- New (as of 2014) water-quality rules were also a barrier to construction.
A new route was designed, construction funding was obtained, and the section was open by 2018-03-04.

Navigation

Earth: United States: North Carolina: Durham: West Ellerbe Creek Trail

Connections

Northeast: Ellerbe Creek Trail (eventually)
Southwest: Hillandale Golf Course (not sure if there's a pedestrian connection)

Sections

older:
- south-southwest: Hillandale Golf Course / Indian Trail Park
- north-northeast to Westover Park (Maryland Avenue) (listing)
completed 2018: from Westover Park (between Guess Road and Maryland Ave.), under I-85 and ending at Stadium Drive Trail on Stadium Drive

Links

Reference

(archive.org) Durham Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC)

Posts

2018-03-04 photos of Woozle's walk along the newly-opened section that crosses under I-85

News

2014-02-11 Durham greenway could be condemnation bound: "...the owners of the Bed, Bath and Beyond shopping center and Costco land already donated easements, back in the 1990s. The catch is, since then the creek has meandered to a new course and the old easements are now in buffer zones where new water-quality rules prohibit any construction."
2007-06-06 Act now: Help connect the North-South & W. Ellerbe Creek Greenways