Southern Kind of Life

I’m almost recovered from my 20 hour day on election day and I’ll have more to say about that later (including pictures of lucky election day socks!), but I just wanted to quickly note that while I was going to bed early Monday night so I could get up early on election day the Durham City Council held a vote and unanimously approved building an arched bridge over I-40 for the American Tobacco Trail.  Personally, I’m disappointed that they didn’t go with the cable-stayed design as I thought it was much more striking and would made a fabulous “signature bridge” for our area.  But, regardless, I’m ecstatic that the process is finally moving forward and that the American Tobacco Trail will have a bridge over I-40 soon.  It’s about time.

The City of Durham is having another meeting on the Phase E part of the American Tobacco Trail, this time dealing with the trail itself, not the bridge.  Unfortunately, for me, they’re having it on a Wednesday which means I can’t go.  So, if anyone can go I’d love to hear what they say.  Here is the full email I received about the meeting:

---

The City of Durham, Department of Public Works, cordially invites you to attend an informational meeting to view the proposed trail location and characteristics for the planned extension of the American Tobacco Trail from NC54, crossing over I-40, and proceeding south to the Durham/Chatham County line. The trail and not the bridge will be the focus of this meeting.

Maps showing the proposed trail will be on display, and comment sheets will be available for attendees.  Our design professional and City staff will be on hand to answer questions concerning the proposed trail. We will post much of the meeting information on or before October 17 on our website at:  http://www.durhamnc.gov/departments/works/project_am_tob_trail.cfm

Date:   Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Time:   7:00 to 9:00 PM
Place:  Durham City Hall, 1st Floor, Council Chambers

Should you have any questions regarding this meeting, please contact Lee Murphy, PE, PLS, Special Projects Engineer, City of Durham at (919) 560-4326 ext. 230, or lee.murphy@durhamnc.gov.

Following up on the previous planning meeting for designing the pedestrian bridge over I-40 for the American Tobacco Trail, it looks like there will be a new meeting on April 29 at 7pm in the 1st floor City Council Chambers at City Hall in Durham.  This is to discuss the concepts for the pedestrian bridge over I-40 for American Tobacco Trail - Phase E that will also include paving the ATT all the way to the Chatham county border.

I rode my bike from south Durham up to the first meeting and depending on my schedule I hope to go to this upcoming meeting.  I really want to see this bridge built as I think it will be very good for promoting bicycle and pedestrian travel between downtown and southern Durham.  There were quite a few people at the last meeting and I hope more people come to this one so that we show city leaders that this is an important project.