The Great Trails State Plan is an effort to link trails in all 100 counties into one statewide network to connect more communities. NC DOT wants to hear from people across North Carolina about how existing trails are used and what would be the best ways to effectively link more trails together.
NC DOT spokesperson David Uchiyama explains:
“So many people here in Western North Carolina associate trails with being out in the woods. But a lot of the trails in this plan are greenways or they are inner cities or through the downtown areas like the River Arts District in Asheville. So there is a wide definition of trails across the state of North Carolina,” says Uchiyama.
NC DOT says that this project will create a statewide trail map as well as a 5-year plan to connect more trails.
“North Carolina, believe it or not, is known as the great road state,” explains Uchiyama. This motto is in part what sparked the idea for a project to highlight North Carolina trails and multi-use paths, he says.
The plan will draw upon existing strategics plans and new recommendations to identify a network of shared use paths and trails that will connects from Murphy to Manteo. There will also be a specific focus to connect population centers to state parks.
Here’s the link to the survey. The deadline to fill out the survey is the end of the September.
