Wheels Turning Slowly

The Colington Road Multi-Use Path Committee recently posted 2,700 letters, one to each property owner on the islands and the adjoining Baum Tract. Here is one response sent to our email address ncsr1217@gmail.com

"I live in Colington Pointe and would love to help with this project.  I would love a way to get past the bridge on a bike or on foot. I can only see it as adding value to this area....  I would use it every day.  I also have a 3 year old that will be attending First Flight and when she is older it would be great to have a way for her to safely ride a bike there - or to the Wright Bros park."

The immediate work for all of us that want to see this become a reality as soon as possible is getting a viable plan. Please add your voice to NCDOT asking for their help in designing this. Address your email or phone call to Lauren Blackburn—her e-mail is lablackburn2@ncdot.gov and her number is (919) 707-2601. She is the Director of the Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation.

And pass this post along!

As a point of information photos you see in this blog are current at the time of posting and are taken along Colington Road.

Just Wanna

Just wanna go a'fishing

Just wanna go to school

Gonna get there anyway

But a path will be so cool

I know you think I'm doing fine

Strolling side the thick white line

But the cars get kinda near

Makes me tremble with some fear

Just wanna catch some dinner

Just wanna get back home

Gonna get there anyway

Hoping no cars decide to roam

We LOVE Steve Lambert & ARPO

Progress of a different sort.

Church curve is finally being eliminated. Three years behind schedule but now becoming a reality.

The next funded for scheduled work on Colington Road is a slight widening with added four foot shoulders on both sides. Acquisition is not due to start for a couple of years yet. And then construction.

And so meanwhile we plug away at finding alternative and safe ways to get non-vehicular traffic from any point on Colington Road to the beach.

Some say that only DUI and beer buyers use the road  without the advantage of a vehicle so why bother to help them.

We reply that many, many more would use a safe pathway if it were available. No one with any other way to travel is going to travel alongside the road now.

Those that we do see walking or cycling have no other choice. Just because they might have a DUI, they still need to get to work, to the doctor, to the grocery. And safely.

A typical moment at just about any time of the day along Colington Road. Do we really want our teens going to school or the beach negotiating this traffic on a road with no shoulder.

Finally a huge shout out to Steve Lambert and the ARPO for funding a mailing to all Colington residents describing the problem and asking for suggestions.

Riding the White Line

A long and winding road with a long and winding history. Situated on Big & Little Colington Islands, this road probably began as an Indian footpath possibly following the curve of the dunes. Starting in the mid-1600's colonists would settle here.

There were once two communities supported by commercial fishing, Colington and Eagleton, on the southwest and northwest shores respectively. Likely these communities help carve the path that later became Colington Road.

Today the communities along Colington Road are as varied as the twists in the road. But one thing remains clear to almost if not all, a non-vehicular path is needed for the safety of everyone that uses the road.

Traveled by private vehicles, commercial trucks and vans, pedestrians and bikers that all have no other way to enter and exit the islands, Colington Road needs help.

It's a huge undertaking with many problems to overcome but every problem has a solution, we just need to find it.

Write, call, email any and all, talk it up positively.

Let the Bike Wheel Squeak Loud & Clear!

Sharing the Road

Yep that's us approaching church curve; our car, approaching cars, and a cyclist. Donny & I don't mind riding behind a cyclist until the coast is clear, really clear. Because of the amount of traffic on our only way onto and off the islands, it took us until past church curve and over the bridge before we passed this guy. And this was a midday trip, no school letting out traffic, no end or beginning of the work day traffic, just plain midday traffic on any given day.

We could have passed the cyclist into on coming traffic. Vehicles in both directions and a cyclist can share the road with a few feet to spare, but why risk an accident to save a few minutes. Anything can happen any time, but when you are forced into close proximity and a driver gets distracted, the bike hits a rock, well that is just asking for trouble. Take the time to give the rider, the jogger, the mom with a stroller, space. It's only a few minutes.

The Dare County Planning Commission needs to implement a plan where any new development along the road must add a multi-use path section as part of the improvement. If this had been in place for even five years, Colington Road would be well on its way to have many sections of a multi-use path.

I have a note from a concerned cyclists with some concrete facts and ideas that I will post next time.

To NCDOT Engineer Jerry Jennings

Hello Jerry,

Jack McCombs said that he talked to you yesterday at the NCDOT Bicycle & Pedestrian Safety Summit about our concerns regarding a multi-use path for Colington Road. It is my understanding that over many decades individual citizens and groups have petitioned for something wise to be done about the lack of a travel alternative along the road and unreasonable expense is the standard reply.

I started a Facebook page for folks to dialogue about their concerns a year ago and to date it has 782 members. I also have a blog on the subject for folks who are not Facebook users. This does not generate as much conversation but it is there for a wider audience to read.

I am a little confused as to why concrete plans, such as the improvement to church curve due to have started August 2010, do not have a multi-use path segment included. It seems that something already planned and budgeted for would easily accommodate including a pathway with little overall increase in expenses. Especially versus going back later.

Partial pathways is certainly a consideration. A multi-use path along the entire stretch of road is a big job and breaking it into segments, say from Baum Bay to the first bridge, is much less daunting to consider. The Blue Crab is a hassle there and rather than greatly compromise the business getting permission for an easement through their parking lot could work. Or how about a shared grant to put a pedestrian bridge adjacent to the second bridge. This would connect a few neighborhoods safely that now have no alternative means to get back and forth.

Thank you for helping with this long overdue project.

Merman says please take the survey.


Today February 8 is the LAST day so please do not tarry.

Where ever there is an other option, check the box and put Colington Road Needs a Multi-Use Path.

 Colington Road is the only major artery north of Oregon Inlet that does not have a choice for any alternate means of travel.

Over 100, 000 vehicles monthly pass through the gate at Colington Harbour (one way) during any summer month.

Colington school children need your help. It has been mandated that Safe Routes to School be implemented. This was in 2005 by our federal government. We are far behind meeting this.

Tell your friends. You do not need to live on the Outer Banks or on Colington Island to help us out. Thank You!!!

This Would Be Fun

Happened upon this procession down the three block street of our little island in Paris, l'Ile St. Louis, and thought then that Colington Road needs someone to take the big step in such a fun manner.

So, adventuresome bride & groom, get married at Colington United Methodist Church, right there at glorious church curve. And then process to the fire station where you get a ride to Colington Cafe or Blue Crab or any one of the lovely eateries on our beloved road for a grand reception. Or process the entire way, pick up well wishers along the route.

Traffic gets stopped, folks get happy, our point is delivered in a clever way. We need a multi-use path.

Just saying, for the 1000th time.

Much rather have a happy wedding procession stir up a traffic jam than a casualty or, sadly, a fatality. And indeed traffic would be tied up.

It would be interesting to have a head count of bikes, okay wheel count, strollers (yes I have more than once seen a mom, using a high end stroller too, walking baby along the shoulder), walkers, joggers that use this path daily.

We almost always see at least one (and more often several) on that list when we're leaving and coming back onto the island and that is an observation from one car at one point in time.

Bobby Outten tells us that the road is so old that there is no easement. Hence the crazy cost estimate of $40 million. You can build a whole new road for $40. So do that and let the old road be the multi-use path.

Not a Choice

For many people traveling on Colington Road means by foot or by bike. Most of these people are not pleasure strolling or riding, they are going to school, work, the store.

At the very least DOT should be including a multi-use path in all improvement project designs for Colington Road.

No one denies that this is an immense project, but one step at a time is better than no steps.

Keep this idea alive by talking it up and writing about it.

Contact Senator Marc, contact DOT.

Make posters and put them along the roadway. Tell folks to join our Facebook page.

Keep pedaling!

Let's Parade

We need Dem Bones to lead our first ever Coling-Ton'O Fun Parade.

Colington Road resident Deb Kasten singer, artist and actress created her lovelies and brings them to life with just a little help.

 Fall is the target time for our parade to raise awareness for our LONG oVerDue Multi-Use Path!

North Carolina Marionette Theater- Dem Bones

Out of the Mouths of Babies

Note the panic look on Andrew's face in this vintage photo, neither of us has a helmet on! He could be thinking, "I'd feel a lot safer if Colington Road had a multi-use path."

The town of Duck joins the southern and northern beaches via a nice multi-use path that I understand friend Stan White help make a reality. Out of town, the path is adjacent to the road but not connected. In town it takes another form.

Through the town proper the path becomes a marked shoulder on both sides of the road. This is what I mean by being creative and thinking outside the box for our multi-use path. We don't have to throw out the baby with the bath water by suggesting that a multi-use path push close to the road homes and businesses out of the way. We all love the quaintness of our local spots.

Just give us a multi-use path the best way you can. Do not say it cannot be done because of land issues and a crazy $37 million dollar cost. That's an insult to our intelligence. Land issues can be resolved one at a time if need be. An interstate could be built along our 5 mile stretch for $37 million.

Our problem with this stuck in neutral issue is that we have no focused representation at court. Being rural Atlantic Township has its drawbacks when it comes to a voice in government. The commissioners represent us but they also represent the entire county. We are one tiny cog in their machine. Gotta get more vocal folks. And tell them and tell them and tell them.

We. Want. A. Multi-use. Path. Now.

Thank you to everyone that is working to keep this project in the eyes of those that have the power to make the wheels of our bicycles turn on a safe path along Colington Road.

Now Here's a Trail!

The American Tobacco Trail is one to drool over. It is 22+ miles of a well maintained path traversing Durham and beyond.

I have used this trail for running and can verify its popularity. It has heavy traffic almost all the time, just like our dream Colington Road Multi-use path will.

Folks use it for exercise, to get to work, to access shopping stops and to reach eateries just to start the list.

Bike riders, single and family; roller blade users; walkers; runners; joggers; strollers with and without babies all can be spotted on this trail. We just missed a picture of a gaggle of bike riders crossing the road we were driving on (yes, where needed there are pedestrian stop for cars).

The people of Colington and their supports are beyond ready DOT and NC legislators for our own multi-use path. We need your help and action and will do our part to get this project off the planning table and onto a work order.

Think Outside the Box

Dear DOT & Senator Marc,

We are organizing an awareness ride for Memorial Day Monday and will keep you posted on how the plans come together.

Senator Marc, we understand that a Colington citizen talked to you years ago about a multi-use path and you told her that there were too many squatters to feasibly execute this project. We say skip the squatters and strike out across the wetlands if need be. The path does not need to follow the road even step of the way. It just needs to connect Colington to the beach. Long overdue!

We know you advocate having Dare County be green, Senator Marc. Our mulit-use path would greatly increase the greenness of our environmentally conscious county. It is impossible to tell you how many riders and walkers a Colington multi-use path would see but I can tell you that it would be as heavily traveled as the road.

While there are already a goodly number of walkers and bikers that use the road as hazardous as it it, they do because they have no choice. Those of us that have a choice cannot bring ourselves to venture onto a life threatening road. Some say this project will never see fruition until a bad accident happens. Please do not let that be the catalyst for action.

Take this thing in segments. From Baum Bay to the first bridge looks really doable from our point of view. There looks to be plenty of easement without compromising existing homes or businesses. It could be done now. From the first bridge to the second also looks easy. It is more of a stretch. Break it into two parts, to Hilltop Cemetery for one and from there to the bridge for the second segment. From the second bridge to Colington Harbour is the tricky part. So here is where we strike out across the horizon and skip church curve although. Voila! We're finished. See how easy that was.

With your help it can be real!

Wright to Riders

Dear DOT

Dear DOT,

Please move faster than the proverbial turtle to get a safe multi-use path in existence along Colington Road.

Considering the proximity of some established businesses and even homes to the road if a bike shoulder needs to be part of the plan that's fine just so as much multi-use path as possible can be the main focus. Even if the path needs to stop for example at Billy's parking lot and start up again beyond so be it, not the ideal solution but no problem. We're dealing with Colington Road here, a very unique situation!!

Impatiently but calmly waiting,

Colington roadsters

First entry!

I am putting together this blog so folks that are not on Facebook can see what we are all about and add comments to move the cause along. Colington Road is the second most traveled secondary road in the state of North Carolina and is long over due for a safe multi-use path to connect the Colington Islands to the rest of the Outer Banks.

Roanoke Island is connected to the beach via a multi-use path. It is possible to travel to the town of Duck and even farther north using a safe multi-use path. Colington, which happens to be right in the central part of the beach, has been left out too long. We need DOT to make this project a reality.

Colington Road does have a multi-use section that starts at the by-pass and continues to Baum Bay. A wonderful start. Taking this huge project into manageable sections, let's go for continuing the path to the first bridge. It must be a multi-use path. A bike shoulder would only create a false sense of security for an already dangerous situation.

Ideas and suggests very welcome!