Written by Liz Adams, Research Associate at the UNC Institute for the Environment

Do you know that the Old Reedy Creek Road through Umstead State Park serves as the “spine” for two state trail networks?

Riding the trail on bicycle west to east between the Bull Durham Stadium and the Neuse River Trail on the NC Bikeway #2 on the (Mountains to Sea) Route or south to north from Sanford to the Virginia Border near Kerr Lake on the NC Bikeway #1 (East Coast Greenway), you travel through urban, suburban, and rural environments connecting many municipal and County parks and several downtown business districts. In addition, the trail provides users with the opportunity to access hundreds of acres of public open space in the triangle area including the Cities of Durham, Morrisville, Cary, Raleigh. The benefits of the trail to the local economy and the improved health of our residents is enormous.

How many federal, state and local dollars have been invested in grants for construction of these trails? How is it possible that all this is at risk for a private rock quarry on public land managed by RDU Airport Authority?

How will the RDU Airport Authority lease of the Odd Fellows Tract to Wake Stone Corporation for open pit mining quarry impact this critical multi-modal infrastructure?

The proposed Wake Stone Quarry Expansion will be directly impacting the East Coast Greenway and US Bicycle Route 1 as both of those segments route through the Old Reedy Creek Road/Trail along side the proposed expansion of the open pit mining site. This trail will be impacted by two driveways into the industrial site during the construction phase that will be used by logging trucks and bridge building equipment.

Here is the NC-DOT website that describes the NC DOT Bicycle Route 1, of which the Old Reedy Creek Road is a critical segment thru Umstead State park.

https://www.ncdot.gov/bikeped/ncbikeways/routes/nc2-mountains-to-sea/default.aspx

The following East Coast Greenway Impact Report quantifies the impact of how critical this greenway is to our local economy and public health.

https://www.greenway.org/uploads/attachments/cjgqs3ffg03yyp8qitykwkvz8-triangle-impact-report.pdf

Old Reedy Creek Road will be used by the logging trucks to clear the 105 acres of the site, and by trucks used to build a new bridge over Crabtree Creek. This is explicitly stated in the lease agreement between Wake Stone and RDU Airport Authority.

“d) For purposes of conducting Lessee’s due diligence, including testing and exploratory operations, during the Option/Testing Period, and timber removal upon execution of the Minderal Lease until construction by the Lessee of the bridge across Crabtree Creek is complete and operational, Lessee may use Reedy Creek Road to access the Premises. Thereafter Lessee will not use Reedy Creek Road as a primary access point to the Premises and will not haul quarry or excavated or mined materials over this road.”

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