The problem at Graylyn

Yesterday, the N.C. Division of State Parks issued a report on three alternatives being considered to address the parking dilemma at the Graylyn Road neighborhood entrance to Umstead State Park. Read Bruce Siceloff's report in today's N&O to get up to speed. (But be sure to come back.)

DOT closed the Graylyn Road entrance to Umstead Oct. 31, 2007. 

One alternative involves improving access to the bike & bridle trailhead parking via the main park entrance off Glenwood Avenue/U.S. 70. A second alternative involves opening the gate at Graylyn and allowing cars to drive to the bike & bridle trail lot from there. A third alternative: do nothing.

The problem with all three alternatives: None address what one runner, who asked not to be identified, described as "the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about." The two alternatives that provide for more parking both restrict access to said parking to official park hours. And there's a whole lot of you — us — who sneak into Umstead before the park officially opens.

In the summer, you'll find cars parked outside the park's entrances as early a 5:30. Early arrivals on Saturday became such a problem at the Harrison Avenue entrance off I-40 — dump trucks couldn't get in and out of the adjoining quarry because the road was jammed with cars —that the park began opening that gate an hour earlier — at 7 — on Saturdays.

"It made a big difference," says Umstead superintendent Scott Letchworth. Still, you'll see a good 20 cars parked outside that gate before 7.

In fact, when the NCDOT shut down the Graylyn Road entrance, Umstead tried to accommodate by opening the main park entrance off Glenwood Avenue/U.S. 70 an hour earlier — at 7 — every day. (The bathrooms may not be unlocked that early, Letchworth advises. Just so you know.)

DOT is consistently putting the park in a bad position. They did it first when they helped install a popular greenway trail feeding into the neighborhood entrance at Reedy Creek and Trenton roads — then put "No Parking" signs, effectively eliminating it as a neighborhood entrance. They did it again at Graylyn Road. And DOT, with its pave-we-must philosophy, threatens to do it yet again at the lone remaining neighborhood entrance, off Old Reedy Creek Road on the Lake Crabtree side of Umstead.

Unofficially, Umstead doesn't have a huge problem with early arrivals (they don't much care for people lingering in the park after hours, though). But with DOT, in it's rush to pavement, rapidly closing the neighborhood entrances it's becoming increasingly difficult for folks who need to get a workout in early — to beat the heat, to get to work, so they can spend the rest of a Saturday or Sunday with their kids — to make that happen.

Umstead and State Parks officials seem eager to accommodate park users. Go to their Web site and you can read about their proposed alternatives for Graylyn Road. And they make it easy for you to comment on your preference.

Note that DOT makes no such accommodation. Did they seek public comment before closing the Reedy Creek/Trenton roads entrance? Did they seek public comment before unilaterally (Umstead park officials were as surprised as you and I when they woke up Oct. 31, 2007, to discover the Graylyn entrance closed) closing Graylyn Road? And have you been to a public hearing over their plans to pave Old Reedy Creek?

The Graylyn Road public comment solicitation is good. It's just the wrong state agency doing it.