Fayetteville staff report progress on trail and sidewalk projects; committee agrees to quarterly trail counts

Staff provided a multi‑project update on trails and sidewalks across Fayetteville, reporting work that is complete, in design, or under construction and describing where staff have direct control over delivery.

Key construction notes included: the Hamstring Free Trail is fully designed and the bridge is being ordered; Weddington between Casey’s and West End is fully designed and permitted; Drake Street work will include a median and a 9‑foot trail on the left, with parking on the right; Maple Street will include a cycle track with a cobble center strip to act as a visual centerline.

Terry (sidewalk staff) said the city is continuing wide‑ranging sidewalk repairs — including historic patches in the downtown historic district — and that trails crew help has enabled Bridal Road widening; crews will mill and pave to restore two southbound lanes in a previously single‑lane stretch. Staff also described options at constrained locations near railroad panels and noted coordination needs with railroad and state authorities for crossings.

Committee members discussed trail connectivity and user wayfinding where trails meet streets (for example at Sunbridge/Poplar/Greg), and several asked staff to evaluate curb cuts and approach improvements. Staff summarized trail‑counter assets (five fixed counters, Strava/Metro data and a new totem counter at the Ramble) and described the workload of retrieving manually uploaded counter data. The committee supported a quarterly trail‑count reporting cadence and asked staff to keep incident reports circulating by email if members want more detail between meetings.

Staff said they would aim to provide a quarterly visualization and to continue posting incident reports and counter data as available.