The next Cross Charlotte Trail connector will open in 2023

State of play: The Brandywine to Tyvola segment, or B2T as the city of Charlotte calls it, is scheduled to open in spring 2023. It’s the latest city piece of the Cross Charlotte Trail, a city collaboration with Mecklenburg County — also known as XCLT, which will stretch from the southern tip of the county to near the Cabarrus County line.

• The county segment from the historic Polk site in Pineville to the state line is scheduled to be completed by the end of the calendar year, per Bert Lynn, capital planning division director for Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation.

The big picture: Ultimately, the whole project will take more than a decade to complete. Work began on it began in 2015 and is scheduled to wrap up in 2026, as Axios’ Katie Peralta Soloff reported.

Details: B2T is one of 11 XCLT segments of the city is responsible for, four of which have been completed and are open to the public:

• Cordelia Park was completed in 2017.
• The south Charlotte connector (which connects XCLT to McAlpine Creek and Four-Mile Creek Greenways) opened in 2020.
• The 7th to 10th Street segment was completed in the fall of 2021.
• A segment between North Davidson Street and Matheson Avenue was completed in June.

Zoom out: The remaining six phases are in one of the following phases: design, real estate acquisition or utility relocation, city spokesperson Tabitha Warren told Axios via email.

By the numbers: B2T is 1.78 miles. All 11 XCLT segments add up to a little more than 13.5 miles between south Charlotte and Kempsford Drive near PNC Music Pavilion.

• Cost: The city budgeted $26.5 million for B2T and $112.9 million total for all 11 of their XCLT segments.

What they’re saying: “We definitely share the community’s excitement to have a greenway facility across the city that accommodates pedestrians and bicyclists and offers unique transportation and recreational opportunities,” Warren told Axios. “We’re particularly excited about the Brandywine-to-Tyvola segment, which is a critical connection in the trail network. Once that’s finished, residents will be able to travel uninterrupted from the President James K. Polk site in Pineville through Uptown and all the way toward NoDa past Cordelia Park.”

Between the lines: B2T originally included a pocket park at the corner of Park Road and Selwyn Avenue. The city, however, eliminated it to stay within the project’s budget, as ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance would have been difficult to attain. An ADA access point will be at 5115 Park Place apartments.

• Public art was also part of the pocket park plan. Instead, public art will be placed at the northern side of B2T at Brandywine Road and Westfield Road near Park Road Shopping Center.

• The city is evaluating landscape options for the Selwyn Avenue site.

Yes, but: Parts of B2T look finished, especially if you’re looking at it from the bridge near Park Road and Selwyn Avenue. But the city advises staying off all parts of the connector until it officially opens. Parts of the unfinished trail are dangerous, especially if you’re biking or moving at a rapid speed.

• There is a fence and a sign reading “road closed to thru traffic” at the existing Tyvola entrance and orange fencing near 5115 Park Place. But plenty of people ignore the sign, biking, walking their dogs, running and exploring what they believe to be a new portion of open greenway.

What’s next: Warren told Axios most of the remaining work on the segment is taking place on the northern end. This includes large rock removal south of Woodlawn, plus installing a 650-foot-long elevated boardwalk and retaining walls.

• Safety rails will also be installed where needed, prior to opening, along entire segment.

Go deeper: Charlotte’s first public park reopens soon after a nearly $6 million makeover