Orange County NC Website
24 <br />5/26/99 <br />C. Analyze Potential of Land for Greenways and <br />Rural Trail Links <br />The use of land for greenways, rural trails and wildlife corridors may <br />be viewed as a continuum of types. One example of a continuum. is. <br />found in the 1996 Chapel Hill Greenways Plan. <br />The Greenways Plan classifies six different types of natural corridors or <br />trails, ranging from natural wildlife corridors, to 10 -foot paved <br />greenways for bike and pedestrian use. The six classes from the <br />Chapel Hill Greenways Plan (with some modified terminology) are: <br />1. Unimproved Corridors lacking trails. No maintenance unless <br />problems (such as diseased or dying trees) affect neighboring <br />properties. <br />2. Primitive Trails, created by wildlife or citizens. Not maintained. <br />3. Improved Woodland Trails, with soft natural surface and <br />minimal improvements that can accommodate mountain bikes <br />and serve as interpretive trails. Basic maintenance (removal of <br />litter, fallen trees and limbs) <br />4. Unpaved Access Drive with gates or bollards to prevent casual <br />vehicle use, suitable for pedestrians or mountain bikes. Usually <br />a road built for other purposes and used for a trail. <br />S. Paved Greenway Trail, under 10 -feet wide. Can be pedestrian - <br />only or allow bicycle use. Maintenance. <br />6. Paved Greenway Trail 10 -Feet or Wider, for mixed bicycle and <br />pedestrian traffic. Built to ADA standards. <br />While developed with ' greenways in mind, this classification scheme <br />could be used on a broader scale. Classes 1 -2, for example, might <br />reasonably fit into the scheme of wildlife corridors, adding provisions <br />that specify no improvements, no public access, and any trails only as <br />previously created by wildlife or people. <br />Classes 4 -6 would appear to be more - properly classified as greenways, <br />since their use is more targeted to people (either pedestrian or <br />bicycle). Classes 4 -6 would be more urban in nature, publicly owned or <br />eased, and found inside the Towns or adjacent areas. <br />Class 3 (Improved Woodland Trails) could be seen as a hybrid trail <br />found -in both urban and rural areas, and as such could be used as an <br />example of rural trail links that tie some parks and open space to a <br />regional trail system on a primary corridor to be identified in the <br />future. In this sense, Woodland Trails may constitute a third category <br />of corridors and trails. <br />There are several criteria that could be used to evaluate land <br />22 <br />