RALEIGH – A greenway connection project in Mecklenburg County earned first place honors as one of the best multimodal projects in this year’s N.C. Department of Transportation Mobi Awards.
Officials with the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation took top honors for the project they nominated,
Little Sugar Creek Greenway, I-485 to James K. Polk Historic Site.
The project earned first place in the contest’s Urban category for projects that serve North Carolina’s communities with between 50,001 and 100,000 residents. It also took first place in this year’s Innovation category.
“Before this project, there was no off-road trail here,” said Gwen Cook, planner for Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation. “There was some high ground here and the marsh was here. We wanted to highlight the marsh. We created an overlook to do that and a boardwalk that goes through the marsh. What’s significant about our boardwalk is it has concrete decking. That makes it last much longer than wood.”
The NCDOT Mobi Awards, now in its fourth year, honors towns, cities and counties for multimodal projects that spurred economic development, improved public health and enhanced communities. First, second and third place winners were selected in six categories – Rural, Small Urban, Urban, Large Urban, Innovation and Most Voted Project.
Mecklenburg County’s project was one of 20 entries into this year’s competition.
This portion of Little Sugar Creek Greenway connects the Cross Charlotte Trail to the President James K. Polk State Historic Site in Pineville. Since its completion in 2021, the Little Sugar Creek Greenway has provided easy and safe access to recreational activities and social connections for cyclists, walkers and runners.
With access to uptown Charlotte, trail users have access to large malls for shopping and dining, as well as impressive wetlands and an overlook in Marsh Park. This 1.8-mile trail strengthens the connection between visitors, local wetlands and wildlife. It also highlights the community's engagement with John Grade's public artwork, "STEM."
“This greenway is the epitome of what a greenway is about,” Cook said. “It connects three large malls, restaurants and significantly, President James K. Polk Historical Site.”
Also in the
Urban category, Burke County’s Fonta Flora Trail Boardwalk claimed second place honors and the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Merrimon Avenue Road Diet project in Asheville took third place.
Innovation WinnersThe
Little Sugar Creek Greenway also won in the NCDOT Mobi Awards’ Innovation category. Projects were scored by the judges based on their innovative or creative approach to planning, programming, management, leadership or implementation.
Burke County’s
Fonta Flora Trail Boardwalk also claimed third place honors in this year’s Innovation Category, with Hendersonville’s
Oklawaha Greenway Phase III project claiming second place. The Oklawaha Greenway was completed in 2019 and expands on the Hendersonville area’s trail system by completing a city-wide network that connects four parks in the mountain city. This greenway also earned first place in the
Most Voted Project and the
Small Urban categories.
This year’s Mobi Awards were hosted by NCDOT, the North Carolina Triangle Chapter of the Women Transportation Seminars, NC Go!, N.C. State University Institute for Transportation Research and Education, and ACEC: The American Council of Engineering Companies.
To see this year’s winning projects, including NCDOT-produced videos of the first place winners, visit the
Mobi Awards webpage. Or you can see complete write-ups on this year’s winners and entrants by visiting the
NCDOT Mobi Awards’ online booklet.