Owen Evans writes: "I wonder if you could do an update on the status of House Creek Greenway. This link is much anticipated by West Raleighites like myself. Seems that there has been some recent activity in the way of property and easement acquisitions, but plans were supposed to be done and available for public review in October and here we are in November. "
House Creek Greenway will connect with the Museum of Art Greenway near the pedestrian bridge over the Beltline.
House Creek, for the uninitiated, is indeed a vital link in the Raleigh Greenway system. The 2.9-mile greenway will link the 14-mile Museum of Art/Umstead/Black Creek greenway (which runs from Meredith College to Cary) to the west with the 11-mile Crabtree Greenway (which runs from Milburnie Road to Lindsay Drive) to the east. When it's completed, we'll be looking at 28 miles of (mostly) connected greenway, by far the biggest connected network in the Triangle. (Actually, it's over 30 miles if you add the trail from Crabtree north past Shelley Lake.)
Which brings us back to Owen's question of when that connection might take place. Here's the back-out schedule fresh from Raleigh's grand greenway potentate, Vic Lebsock. "We anticipate going to bid with the project in January or February, awarding the contract in April or May, then beginning construction in the summer." The project, which includes two pedestrian tunnels — under Lake Boone Trail and Glen Eden Drive — will take a little over a year, with completion expected in September 2010.
And if you're wondering how the current economic mess might affect the project, Lebsock says this particular project is safe. It's covered under bonds approved by voters in 2003 that also cover construction of the Honeycutt Creek greenway as well as the design of the Neuse River Greenway, the Walnut Creek extension (from Worthdale Park to the Neuse) and the Crabtree Creek extension from Milburnie Road to New Hope Road.
Note: That only covers design for those stretches, not construction.
