After years of effort to develop a safe route for students to walk and bike to school, the Town of Leland will officially open the Old Fayetteville Road Multi-Use Path with a ribbon cutting on Oct. 18 at 12 p.m.
The nearly one-mile paved multi-use path, separated from traffic, will be open to pedestrians, bicyclists, and wheelchairs. It runs along the north side of Old Fayetteville Road from Leland’s Founders Park to North Brunswick High School.
“It’s critical that we provide places for people to exercise and ways for our children to get back and forth to school safely, especially with Leland being one of the fastest growing communities in North Carolina,” Mayor Brenda Bozeman said. “These paths will benefit Leland families and their children for generations to come.”
Eighty percent of the $2.6M project cost was funded by the Federal Highway Administration, with a twenty percent match coming from the Town. The project also included repaving a one mile stretch of Old Fayetteville Road. The project was a collaboration between the Town of Leland, NCDOT, and the Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (WMPO).
This path will be an important link to other recreational facilities and trails planned for Leland, including Founders Park, which is scheduled to be renovated, the new Sturgeon Creek Park, and other regional trails such as the proposed North Carolina Gullah Geechee Greenway/Blueway Heritage Trail linking Navassa, Leland, and Belville to Southport and the North Carolina portion of the 3,000-mile East Coast Greenway, which extends from Maine to Florida.
Representatives from the WMPO and NCDOT will join Mayor Bozeman, members of Leland Town Council, and Town staff for the ribbon cutting to celebrate the collaboration that made this project possible. The North Brunswick High School Cross Country Team will open the trail with a run through the finish line.
Parking for the ribbon cutting will be available at Leland Town Hall (102 Town Hall Drive) and the Founders Park parking lot along Town Hall Drive. Participants are invited to walk or bike the path.
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