The 26-mile Cross Charlotte Trail is a continuous, separated and connected greenway system stretching from the North Carolina-South Carolina state line through uptown Charlotte to Cabarrus County. Kimley-Horn’s segments of the project involved all phases of greenway planning and design, including preplanning, route analysis, feasibility studies, community engagement, preliminary and final design, wetland and floodplain permitting and real estate coordination.

The $14-million, 1.5-mile Brandywine Road to Tyvola Road segment included three grade-separated road crossings, a pedestrian bridge, a 600-ft-long elevated trail structure along a steep stream bank, a low-water bridge connection to a pocket park and three other low-water bridge crossings. Final design included horizontal and vertical trail design, structural design, hydraulic design, storm drainage design, landscape design and construction phase services.

Site access was a challenge for the project team with most of the construction occurring within the stream banks of Little Sugar Creek through an urban area.

During design, the project team performed up-front work to understand the corridor and work with permitting agencies to allow for the necessary access.

The team worked with North Carolina Dept. of Environmental Quality to establish limitations that minimize construction erosion while allowing the contractor to “work in the wet,” according to Kimley-Horn.