Wake Forest has received a $513,581 grant from the state Clean Water Management Trust Fund to will help acquire easements along the Smith Creek Greenway corridor and help finance phase two of the greenway construction, a project on the 2014 bond referendum. On Tuesday night the Wake Forest Town Board approved the first construction phase for the wayfinding plan for the town’s parks and greenways.
Currently the Smith Creek Greenway that is connected to Raleigh’s Neuse River Greenway by the Wake Forest Connector bridge runs north to Burlington Mills Road and ends there. The grant will help build a 2.8-mile section from Burlington Mills Road to the existing greenway section near Heritage High School. The design for phase two of the Smith Creek Greenway will begin in October, and part of the plan is to build a trailhead with parking along One World Way.
“For years, Wake Forest greenway users have asked the Town to extend Smith Creek Greenway at Burlington Mills northward,” Candace Davis, the town’s transportation planning manager, said Wednesday. “The Clean Water Management Trust Fund grant award will provide funding to support easement acquisitions along the Smith Creek Greenway corridor. We are excited to continue making strides towards connecting the town’s growing greenway system!”
Davis also chimed in on the wayfinding plan. “We are excited about the upcoming construction project to add wayfinding within the Town’s parks and greenways! Phase 1 includes the following greenways and park facilities: Smith Creek Greenway at Burlington Mills; Dunn Creek Greenway; Smith Creek Soccer Center Greenway; Sanford Creek Greenway; E. Carroll Joyner Park; and J.B. Flaherty Park.”
Wake Forest is the only Wake County town to receive Clean Water Management Trust Fund funding during the current cycle.
Established in 1996, the fund provides grant assistance to conservation non-profits, local governments and state agencies for the protection of surface waters in North Carolina. CWMTF funds projects that (1) enhance or restore degraded waters, (2) protect unpolluted waters, and/or (3) contribute toward a network of riparian buffers and greenways for environmental, educational, and recreational benefits, (4) provide buffers around military bases to protect the military mission, (5) acquire land that represents the ecological diversity of North Carolina, and (6) acquire land that contributes to the development of a balanced State program of historic properties.
