RALEIGH, N.C. — The City of Raleigh has a draft of the Greenway Master Plan ready for review.

 

What You Need To Know

The draft of the Greenway Master Plan is in Phase 3

The greenway currently consists of 117 miles of trails, and more are expected to be added

The public has until September 27 to comment on the draft

 

Raleigh’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department has been working on the updated plan since January 2020. This project is the first update to the greenway plan in over 30 years.

“As you can imagine the City of Raleigh has changed dramatically since 1989, so this plan was long overdue,” Capital Projects Manager Kris Nikfar said. “I think what’s really interesting about this plan is this is the first time that we’ve provided criteria for each of the trail projects, and that criteria is based on social equity, racial equity, connections to transits, activity centers, etc.” 

Some of the highlights of the project are: 

  • Updating the existing greenway plan to be consistent with the City’s Strategic Plan and other council adopted plans

  • Review and evaluate current city policies and make recommendations for updates to respond to evolving needs of the program and the Capital Area Greenway (CAG) users

  • Review of and make a recommendation for improvements to the City’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) based on best practices

  • Review of and make recommendations to improve the CAG’s existing trail classifications, greenway corridors and widths

  • Provide an existing conditions evaluation on accessibility (ADA) and maintenance needs and provide recommendations for improvements/implementation strategies

  • Review of and make trail alignment recommendations to connect existing system gaps

  • Develop a greenway trail design for greenway trails that don’t run along stream corridors

  • Determine the prioritization of projects based on community-confirmed principles and criteria

  • Provide preliminary cost estimates for highest priority projects

The project is currently in its third phase and is asking for the public to review the draft plan and provide feedback by Monday, September 27. The plan could be approved by the Raleigh City Council as early as December 2021.