The American Tobacco Trail (ATT) is a long

Rails-to-Trails A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

project located in the

Research Triangle The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont region of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by the cities of Raleigh and Durham and the town of Chapel Hill, home to ...

region of North Carolina, running along an abandoned railroad bed originally built for the

American Tobacco Company The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members of ...

in the 1970s. The route crosses through portions of Durham County (including the City of

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham * County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

), Chatham County, and

Wake County Wake County is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. In the 2020 census, its population was 1,129,410, making it North Carolina's most-populous county. From July 2005 to July 2006, Wake County was the 9th-fastest growing county in the U ...

(including the Town of

Cary, North Carolina Cary is a town in Wake and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is part of the Raleigh–Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the 2020 Census, its population was 174,721, making it the seventh largest mun ...

). The ATT is part of the East Coast Greenway and is open to pedestrians, cyclists, equestrians (in non-urban sections) and other non-motorized users. Starting from the southern end of the trail in New Hill, the 6.5 mile Wake County portion of the trail is gravel, followed by a 4.7-mile multi-use section in Chatham County that contains a paved lane and a gravel (equestrian lane); the northernmost 11.4-mile paved section in Durham County on the north end of the trail ends at the

Durham Bulls Athletic Park Durham Bulls Athletic Park (DBAP, pronounced "d-bap") is a 10,000-seat ballpark in Durham, North Carolina that is home to the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball. It is also home to the Duke Blue ...

(DBAP). The 4.7-mile Chatham County section of the trail was built, and is managed, by the Town of Cary (which resides in both Wake and Chatham counties).

Route

Durham County

The ATT traverses in Durham County. The trail's northern terminus lies in the city of

across Morehead Avenue from the

. Within the city, the trail is a wide asphalt paved greenway with loose gravel shoulders. It is open to walkers, cyclists, rollerbladers and wheelchair users, but not equestrians. The American Tobacco Trail runs through the city of Durham south to the Chatham county line, crossing over I-40 near

The Streets at Southpoint The Streets at Southpoint is a shopping mall in Durham, North Carolina. Located near I-40, on Fayetteville Road, the mall was developed by Urban Retail Properties and is currently owned and managed by Brookfield Properties, a subsidiary of Brook ...

mall. A pedestrian bridge was erected over I-40 in April 2013, connecting the northern and southern segments of the Durham County portion of the trail, but due to construction errors, did not open until February 2014. This segment of the ATT within Durham County is a designated portion of the East Coast Greenway.

Chatham County

The ATT trail traverses in Chatham County. Once the trail crosses into Chatham county, the trail converts to a dual surface of asphalt and compacted screenings. The trail is open for foot, bike and equestrian use by TRTC. The trail crosses Northeast Creek and O'Kelly Chapel Road, past the Old Chatham Golf Course. It also traverses the end of Pittard Sears Road, Panther Creek, and continues past New Hope Church Road.

Wake County

The ATT traverses in Wake County. The Wake County portion of the ATT is approximately wide with a granite screening surface. The trail is open to hikers, cyclists, wheelchair users and equestrians. Users can access this portion of the greenway most conveniently at 2575 New Hope Church Rd, Cary, NC. In total, of continuous paved trail is usable in the northernmost portion and of continuous unpaved trail is usable in the southernmost portion.

History

J.B. Duke founded the

in 1890, which subsequently acquired the Lucky Strike Company and over 200 other firms. The company built processing plants and warehouses in Durham which were served by several rail lines built in 1905. The rail line to the south which is now the ATT, connected from Durham to Bonsal, NC and onwards to

Duncan Duncan may refer to: People * Duncan (given name), various people * Duncan (surname), various people * Clan Duncan * Justice Duncan (disambiguation) Places * Duncan Creek (disambiguation) * Duncan River (disambiguation) * Duncan Lake ...

. It was known as the New Hope Valley Railway and later Durham & South Carolina (it never got as far as SC), and later became part of the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31, ...

system. In the 1970s the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

built the

Jordan Lake B. Everett Jordan Lake is a reservoir in New Hope Valley, west of Cary and south of Durham in Chatham County, North Carolina, in the United States; the northernmost end of the lake extends into southwestern Durham County. Part of the Jor ...

reservoir in Chatham County necessitating the relocation of a large portion of the tracks. A portion of the original right-of-way is presently a natural surface trail accessible off of Stagecoach Rd. in Durham. A new rail line was built on higher ground a few miles to the east. However, only about 10 years later, the tracks were removed from this new railroad as Norfolk Southern had been bought out, and trains could access the American Tobacco complex via the Southern Railway more economically.The American Tobacco Trail
In the 1980s the Triangle Rails to Trails Conservancy (TRTC) was formed to preserve the corridor as a multi-use trail and developed a Master Plan for the ATT in 1992. Since then, work has progressed at a moderate pace to develop the trail for pedestrian, bicycle, and equestrian use.

References

External links

Triangle Rails to Trails Conservancy
- principal volunteer/advocacy group for the ATT
Photographs and stories from a daily ATT bicycle commuter

Video of entire paved and unpaved trail
labeled with distances, cross streets, and other items
Higher quality video of entire paved and unpaved trail
labeled with distances, cross streets, and other items
Annotated map of ATT
from the Raleigh News and Observer, August 2, 2007
North Carolina Rail-Trail Records, 1987-

WRAL {{NorthCarolinaTrails Rail trails in North Carolina Tr National Recreation Trails in North Carolina Protected areas of Wake County, North Carolina Protected areas of Chatham County, North Carolina Protected areas of Durham County, North Carolina East Coast Greenway