(photo courtesy of City of Durham via the linked article)
Many cities are taking their old railroad or rail car lines and turning them into pedestrian trails that connect their communities. Most recently, the city of Durham, NC, has received $9mil in federal funding to build a 1.75-mile trail connecting West Village, Duke Park and Old North Durham.
“It will serve people commuting, biking to work, to school, going out to shop or eat, but it will also be a place where on weekends it is going to be packed with people,” Barnes said. “I think this could be the most visited park in all of Durham, once it’s built.”
Building these trails not only connects neighborhoods and promotes community engagement, it creates valuable real estate all along its line.
"Murdock chose her apartment in Research Triangle Park in part because it’s close to the American Tobacco Trail, the 22-mile greenway built on a former railroad line. She said trails and greenways became more popular than ever as people looked for ways to exercise outside during the coronavirus pandemic."
At MKThink we love reusing old things. Old buildings. Old neighborhoods. Old railroad lines. And thinking about how everything presents an opportunity to create more human engagement, especially as we move out of cars and try to reconnect our cities at the pedestrian level. To learn more about work, drop us a note.
To learn more about the Durham project, click here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article257656338.html#storylink=cpy
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