Greenway expert is convinced that Greensboro’s traveling right path
This week's column.
The city of Chicago’s sprawling lake front, with its shimmering, glass-and-steel skyline, looks surreal on a sunny day, like a sci-fi futurescape.
Almost as impressive are the miles and miles of paved biking, jogging and walking paths along the shores of Lake Michigan that connect neighborhoods and parks — and bring people of all walks of life together on bikes and on foot.
There are tree-lined paths near the city’s stately Museum Campus, divided into lanes by blue dotted stripes, like a superhighway for human beings. There are bridges across railroad tracks and well-lit tunnels under Lake Shore Drive.
As I strolled past Soldier Field during a recent visit, I imagined walking to a Bears game on a fall Sunday. It’s odd and more than a little refreshing to see a stadium not built as an island in an asphalt sea of parking spaces.
Greensboro may not be able to replicate the sailboats on the lake or the phalanx of glass towers or Da Bears, but it can have the greenways, says one Durham-based expert. “Chicago’s greenway system has been layered for 40 to 50 years and has been integrated into how people live,” says Chuck Flink, who has been involved in the development of trails and greenways for more than 25 years. Greensboro, he says, has the same opportunity.
Flink, founder and president of Greenways Inc., has consulted planners and community leaders on greenway projects in 125 communities and 35 states. One of those communities is Greensboro, where funding for the first phase of the 4.8-mile Downtown Greenway awaits voter approval on the Nov. 4 ballot as part of a $134 million city transportation bond package.
Flink says Greensboro already is off to a strong start with its current, 80-mile network of trails and biking paths. Problem is, Greensboro paths, by and large, don’t take you anywhere. They are centered in parks and along flood plains and they typically don’t link to one another. They are destinations in and of themselves, not particularly useful in getting from here to there. Many of us have to drive our cars to get to them.
“A survey says the current greenways aren’t being used because they’re not convenient to where people live and want to go,” Flink says. “It’s a good system, but it’s been developed as part of the parks system and not the transportation system.”
“If they can get connected up,” Flink says of Greensboro’s greenways, “and be linear to downtown in a meaningful way, I think more people will use it and in a way other than for just health and fitness.”
In other words, if you could actually ride your bike to work on a greenway path, rather than having to fend against cars and SUVs and cranky drivers. Flink contends that greenways aren’t parks anymore. When properly planned and built, he says, “greenways have become a very important component of transportation.”
Chicago has more than 150 miles of greenways, Flink says, Minneapolis 200-plus, Denver, more than 250. He rattles off a list of success stories in Philadelphia, Denver, Minneapolis, Toledo, Chattanooga, Tenn., Grand Forks, N.D., Durham and Raleigh.
The city of Miami, he says, reclaimed land along the Miami River, which had become polluted and drug-infested, as a greenway, “They’ve seen millions of dollars of private investment,” he says.
As for Greensboro, Flink says he is especially interested in seeing southeast Greensboro as a priority because it tends to lack trails more than other parts of town, aside from Barber Park.
Flink says he knows cash is tight here and that there’s no shortage of skeptics (like me). But he points to Philadelphia, where crime is high and money was equally tight and city leaders face a daunting stack of priorities. Yet the new greenway there already is paying dividends on a $10 million investment.
He notes that a study of 372 greenways nationwide found lower crime rates there.
He cites the prevailing sentiment in the medical community that greenways encourage exercise and help address obesity.
Flink paints a glowing picture, as you might expect, since he develops greenways for a living and since he’s the co-author of “Greenways: A Guide to Planning, Design and Development.” But other studies bear him out.
A empirical 2005 study by Sarah Nicholls of Michigan State University and John L. Crompton of Texas A&M University concluded that greenways increase property values, as does the larger body of research.
At an estimated $26 million total cost, once it’s fully completed, the Downtown Greenway is still a pricey proposition, but Greensboro’s existing trails do give it a significant head start.
I’m not convinced just yet, but they’ve certainly got my attention.
Comments (6)
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I am glad you have decided to use Chicago as our newest model. The Chicago Park District has 26 indoor and 51 outdoor pools. Interesting.
http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/resources/pool_schedules/
Posted on August 11, 2008 8:40 AM
I think inclusion of greenways and trails in the street improvement bond has the potential of risking passage of the transportation and streets portion. We have many critical street and transportation infrastructure and improvement needs: the greenway/trail issue is a want. Let's focus on needs now and wants later.
I wish the greenway project had been presented as a separate bond, particularly in view of the projected 10 year construction period and total cost to complete - $ 34 million dollars. (We're voting on only $ 12.3 million of the total cost in the November referendum).
Posted on August 11, 2008 12:13 PM
Bill:
Many have expressed similar sentiments. Chuck Flink makes a valid argument about greenways needing to be thought of as transportation and not parks. But the greenway's place on the ballot does present a dilemma for voters who want the road improvements but not the trails.
My view is that this does not jeopardize the transportation so much as give the greenway a safer haven.
That said, the greenway does have its merits. It would have been nice to see it pass or fail on those merits, on its own.
Posted on August 11, 2008 12:51 PM
I would agree with that sentiment particularly since reportedly supporters have raised or had pledged significant money to the project. But as a long time pool supporter i understand you take what you are given.
Posted on August 11, 2008 2:20 PM
I would also agree that needs vs wants vs priorities are very much debatable.
Posted on August 11, 2008 3:43 PM
Allen,
I think the greenway has a good chance of
jeopardizing the roads improvements. People may feel manipulated and figure that if the road improvements are that important then they can be put on a future bond without the greenway muddying the issue.
I think we forget how tough this economy is on people's wallets and pocketbooks. Lots of people are truly struggling. They are doing well to feed and clothe their families. For them, the greenway is a want, not a need. For them, even road improvements may be a
want..
Posted on August 14, 2008 8:51 PM