About 100 people came out to the June 5th dedication. Information on the trail and related topics was available at several booths. Attendees heard remarks from Chatham, Durham, the town of Cary, NCDOT, NC Rail-Trails, TRTC and from Speaker of the NC House, Joe Hackney. For pictures please go to the American Tobacco Trail page on Flickr.

Over the past few months NC DOT and Chatham County have been examining traffic patterns and parking at both the O'Kelly Chapel and New Hope Church crossings. Significant and fairly high speed traffic is typical at both locations. In light of this high volume vehicle traffic and the limited sight lines at O'Kelly, DOT and Chatham have decided to limit road-side parking near the crossing. NO PARKING signs will be installed during June. Reduced speed limits for these roads are also being considered. Some discussion of this situation can be found in a recent Chatham Journal article. As noted in the article, Chatham is planning and budgeting for a dedicated trailhead parking area on New Hope Church Road to be opened in 2013. Trail users are urged to park at either the Pittard-Sears crossing or at the White Oak Church Road trailhead.

Using nearly $300,000 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Durham will be doing much needed re-surfacing of portions of the ATT and several other greenways over the next 90 days.

On Saturday May 15th we sponsored a brief ceremony to dedicate the completion of this latest connection to the ATT. We heard remarks from staff from both the North Carolina Rails Division and the Parks Division, Durham Parks & Recreation, City Councilman Mike Woodward, Durham County Commissioner Ellen Reckow and from Ray Eurquhart of the Southside neighborhood group. All recognized the fine partnership in this effort. Several local residents said how grateful the neighborhood was for the connector and thanked the TRTC for our work. After the ceremony we installed a new information sign to guide connector users to nearby streets and destinations. Below are some pictures from this event.

Jim Wise, a long time Durham columnist, presents a short history of efforts to plan and then obtain funding and permits for the bridge to be built over I-40 over the next 12-15 months. The 2006 petition asking for expedited action by Durham was sponsored by TRTC.

In early May, TRTC was one of three organizations to receive a generous grant from proceeds of the 2010 marathon. TRTC received $20,000, the Wounded Warrior Project received $10,000 and $5,000 was awarded to the Red Cross to be directed to the Haitian relief fund. TRTC was involved in trail preparation for the event and intends to continue as an active supporter of the event in 2011. We plan to use the funds over the next two years for ATT trail enhancements and for surface upgrades at areas such as the Eagle Spur trail.