About the State Trail
The East Coast Greenway is a walking and biking route stretching 3,000 miles from Maine to Florida — connecting 15 states and 450 communities. The East Coast Greenway State Trail is the portion of the greenway in North Carolina.
Here in N.C., the East Coast Greenway State Trail is shaped like a large "V," with one arm passing through Raleigh, Durham, and Fayetteville. The coastal arm will connect Greenville and Jacksonville. These will join in Wilmington. Along the way, hikers and bicyclists can experience rolling hills of pine, oak, and hickory forests; cypress swamps; thriving cities; and coastal beaches.
The image in the center of the EGST blaze echoes the symbology used for the national greenway connecting Maine to Florida. This also emphasizes the partnership that N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation enjoys with the East Coast Greenway Alliance, the national organization that supports the East Coast Greenway.
Trail Use
Partner Organization
The East Coast Greenway Alliance was founded in 1991 by a group of cycling enthusiasts who had a vision of a protected corridor from Maine to Florida. Their mission is to partner with local, state, and national agencies and organizations to promote the establishment, stewardship, and public enjoyment of a safe and accessible multiuser greenway linking cities and towns from Maine to Florida.
The East Coast Greenway vision is a 3,000-mile route for biking, walking, and other active means from Maine to Florida. It will host tens of millions of visits per year as a linear park separated from motor vehicle traffic, connecting major cities, small towns, and the nature around them. By providing fun, safe, and accessible infrastructure for everything from a local commute to a long adventure, the Greenway will foster healthy, sustainable, and prosperous communities throughout the Eastern Seaboard.
About Partner Organizations
The legislation that created the Complete the Trails program requires that funds be distributed by the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation to a nonprofit partner for each trail. To be the recognized partner, an organization must have a Memorandum of Understanding with the Division and an approved 3- to 5-year plan for deploying the funds to develop the state trail.
As part of the Complete the Trail Program, each state trail partner organization was required to submit a five-year plan, outlining priorities and goals until 2027 for their trail. Excerpts from the plan are outlined below.
Capacity Building Fund Projects:
- Staff time
- Travel and meetings
Priority CTP Projects:
- Planning and feasibility studies
- Neuse River Trail, Phase 2
- Kure Beach Island Greenway
- Pine Knoll Shores/Bogue Banks Path
- Dismal Swamp Canal Trail extension
| Estimated cost for all EGST priority projects | $5,000,000 |
|---|---|
| Estimated cost for all EGST projects | $933,000,000 |
| CTP allocation for EGST | $4,971,282 |
Banner photo by Ildar Sagdejev via Flickr: Bicyclist on the American Tobacco Trail in Durham, part of the East Coast Greenway State Trail