A new greenway and pedestrian connector could be on its way to Harrisburg—pending an interlocal agreement with Cabarrus County and the school system.
The Town of Harrisburg has been talking about building a new greenway along Back Creek for years, and part of the route crosses land that’s part of Hickory Ridge middle and high schools. Since the county and Cabarrus County Schools each own one of those parcels, the two entities must enter into an agreement with Harrisburg to move forward. CCS has already approved the interlocal agreement, and county commissioners will vote on their part at the Monday, Feb. 18, meeting.
“It’s essentially connecting communities and people, parks,” Harrisburg Parks and Recreation Director Daniel Stines said. “We think it’s a great safe route to school project for the community of Harrisburg. Stallings Park is just a stone’s throw away up the road. We are working on road improvements for Stallings that would include sidewalk connectivity, so there would be that bonus there.”
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Last year, the town began working with a company to formalize the trail’s alignment, look at existing property already owned or acquired by the town and—most importantly—identify any gaps in the route. Two of those gaps include Hickory Ridge Middle School, owned by the county, and Hickory Ridge High School, owned by CCS.
“The Back Creek Greenway would be a main artery right in the middle of Harrisburg connecting in the neighborhood of about 1,400 homes with the schools and with the park system in Harrisburg,” Stines said. “So the beginning here is at Caldwell Road.”
The parks director added that the greenway is part of Harrisburg’s master plan and was also identified in the Carolina Thread Trail for Cabarrus County as a top priority and in the connectivity systems trail plan for Cabarrus County, which was laid out about 10 years ago.
“So there are a number of plans that identify the priority of this,” Stines said.
Harrisburg officials have also voiced interested in a county-owned parcel on Stallings Road as a potential trail head and parking lot. County staff told commissioners that the land currently has no use.
In what he referred to as phase one of the Back Creek Greenway, Stines said the trail will cover about 3.44 miles with parking on Caldwell and Stallings roads. In future phases, the greenway could connect with several other closed-loop trail systems in town.
“We’ve got a couple greenways in Harrisburg, but they’re non-connecting routes at this point,” Stines said. “So the next phase would be traveling further south and tying into the Fuda Creek, which then eventually ties into the Rocky River, which is part of the county’s Carolina Thread Trail component.”