The City of Wilmington is set to break ground on one of the last links of the Gary Shell Cross City Trail.
At the foot of Teal Street, where last spring the city built a wood bridge link for the off-road, multi-use path around Wilmington, officials will hold a 3 p.m. groundbreaking Friday for the next quarter-mile section that will run through Autumn Hall to connect the College Acres neighborhood with Eastwood Road.
State grants will cover more than half of the $425,000 expense, according to information from the city, and construction should wrap by the end of this year.
The Cross City Trail, named for the late Gary Shell, a former Wilmington Parks & Recreation director and 22-year city employee, will ultimately be a 15-mile path casing Wilmington from Wade Park to the Wrightsville Beach drawbridge. It’s a navigation alternative for bicyclists and pedestrians and component of the county’s greenway project, which is still in its planning stage.
According to the city, stimulus dollars cover nearly 60 percent of the Cross City Trail’s $6.83 million cost, while 31 percent–$2.1 million–comes from city park bond funds. The N.C. Department of Transportation has committed $435,000 while state grant money and private contributions round out the total.
More information is available here.
A map of the trail is viewable here.
