Opinions - To The Contrary

Saturday, May. 17, 2008

Blazing a new trail

To the Contrary

The Carolina Thread Trail, a bold vision for hundreds of miles of interconnected trails and greenways in 15 Carolinas counties, has taken me in many new directions. One unexpected direction was toward Europe, where our delegation visited trail systems in three regions anchored by cities comparable in size to Charlotte.

This study trip allowed our 10-member regional team to understand and experience approaches to open space preservation, trail integration and sustainable development in areas where open spaces are scarce, urban density is high, land is at a premium, and gasoline prices have long been prohibitive.

We walked the Greenbelts and Regionalpark Rhein-Main of Frankfurt -- a major financial center just like Charlotte. Frankfurt has conserved over 30 percent of its land as open space, and its greenways, businesses, transportation, public art and leisure pursuits are seamlessly integrated with an eye toward a sustainable -- and enjoyable -- community.

We cycled Amsterdam's trails and conserved land that connect and carry 80,000 cycling commuters each day. We viewed a parking deck at the main train station filled with thousands upon thousands of bicycles. We biked over reclaimed landfills and explored an urban park crisscrossed with trails that was a reclaimed gas factory site, which included public art, a lively restaurant, and a dog park.

We biked through busy Brussels, and saw the connection from familiar urban bike lanes to outer greenway belt.

Trails in use

Everywhere we went, we saw trails in constant and varied use. We walked in ancient forests; we saw reclaimed land put to adaptive and creative reuse. We saw trails connecting cities, villages and farmland. We saw people benefiting from decades of planning -- and persistence in executing the plan. We saw the vitality that trail access could bring to small villages and businesses.

One striking observation: Planning for greenways, trails and bike paths is "wired in" to the comprehensive planning process. The green infrastructure is taken every bit as seriously as extending sewer lines or building new roads for cars. It is not an afterthought or a "nice to have" amenity. It is a necessity, and successes have been years in the making.

Our region has its own successes with green spaces, trails and land conservation -- but those successes have been spotty, rather than part of a regional, long-term vision. We have natural resources that are extraordinary -- and threatened.

An integrated system

Now, in the Carolina Thread Trail, we have an actionable opportunity to design and execute an integrated trail system to anchor a green infrastructure for our region. The Thread will enhance our sense of place, our sense of connection, our economic vitality -- and our future.

York County and Gaston County, N.C., already are engaged in community planning processes to design their trail systems, and Mecklenburg County is well down the road. All are designing portions of connecting trails that will become part of the Carolina Thread Trail and help create a new fabric of life for our region.

The Thread will complement other regional initiatives of the Charlotte Regional Partnership, many chambers of commerce, the Centralina Council of Government and Catawba Regional Council of Government. The spirit of collaboration that guides Thread Trail planning will help us address many regional issues that confront us.

Our team departed with a collective sense of opportunity, partnership and responsibility to make the Carolina Thread Trail a catalyst for conserving and connecting our natural landscapes and our communities. This is not a "nice to have," it is a "must do" for the livable, healthy future we all want.