Preservation in the News

The state Department of Transportation wants to ban parking and lay asphalt on Old Reedy Creek Road, a gravel road from Cary into the southwest corner of Umstead State Park. But those plans are on hold while the town of Cary considers building a parking lot for Umstead patrons on town-owned land just off Old Reedy Creek Road.

"It's important that we not rush too fast on that and give Cary time to look at the parking," said Wally Bowman, who oversees DOT operations in Wake and six other counties. "We're trying to avoid something similar to what happened on Graylyn Drive, to spend a little time on this and get some public involvement."

DOT made enemies last fall when it planted "No Parking" signs along Graylyn, a gravel road popular with runners and cyclists as an informal northern entrance to the 5,579-acre park.

The parking ban was a prelude to paving plans for Graylyn, a dead-end road off Ebenezer Church Road in West Raleigh. DOT this week will open bids for a contract to pave Graylyn later this summer.

Umstead is one of North Carolina's most popular parks, with more than 600,000 visitors a year. Many visitors use side entrances for quick access to Umstead's crushed-gravel bridle and bike trails.

They park their cars near locked maintenance gates at Graylyn and Old Reedy Creek and -- on the park's southeast corner -- at the corner of Trenton and Reedy Creek roads.

These aren't just a few exercise nuts too lazy to drive a couple of miles to the main entrance gates. For many Triangle residents, the convenience of these side entrances makes it possible to run or bike in Umstead before or after work on a busy weekday.

DOT critics have collected 1,462 signatures for a petition to restore parking access at all three entry points. They're lobbying legislators and state and city government officials, and they're airing their gripes online at http://accessumstead.blogspot.com.

Cyrus Stacey of Raleigh has been running and biking in Umstead for 15 years -- and he has never used the main entrance on Glenwood Avenue. He likes the Trenton-Reedy Creek entrance, but parking near there has become scarce since DOT paved those two roads in 2006.

"It creates this huge inconvenience to have to come around to the other entrances to the park," said Stacey, 39.

Old Reedy Creek Road is wider than Graylyn, and a DOT maintenance engineer said last year that it probably could accommodate roadside parking. But Bowman said parking would not be allowed after Old Reedy Creek Road is paved.

"Not under our current policies," Bowman said. "We don't provide on-street parking" on paved secondary roads.

State park officials complained last year that DOT engineers did not warn them before they banned parking and made preparations for paving on Graylyn -- unleashing a stream of protest from Umstead park patrons.

This year, there still appears to be little communication between the two state agencies.

Cary and Wake County officials met with Bowman this spring to talk about parking options for Old Reedy Creek Road.

State park officials weren't there. But they are talking separately with Raleigh and Cary.

"We are also looking into establishing formal access points with our local government partners," Don Reuter, assistant state parks director, said by e-mail to an Umstead Park patron.

"As for your request for information regarding the public process ... that led to the paving and parking prohibition on Graylyn Drive, I suggest you contact the Department of Transportation."