The N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation has reached an agreement with Anderson Real Estate #4, LLC and its affiliates to exchange parcels of land near William B. Umstead State Park’s Crabtree entrance in Raleigh.
A map showing the parcels is available here.
The division recommended this land exchange to alleviate long-standing access and traffic safety issues associated with the existing entrance to the park, currently only accessible at the intersection of a four-lane highway (U.S. Highway 70) with no traffic signal. More than 825,000 park visitors used the entrance last year.
The N.C. Department of Transportation has plans to improve U.S. 70 at this location. Division officials expect the improvements to make navigating the existing intersection more challenging for park visitors, particularly school buses and horse trailers.
The acquisition of Anderson’s property will allow the park to re-route the park access from its current location to the traffic signal at Glenwood Avenue and Triangle Drive. Currently, the stretch of U.S. Highway 70 in front of the park’s Crabtree entrance accommodates 40,000 vehicles per day, while 1,030 of those vehicles enter and exit the park. That means visitors trying to access the park currently contend with merging onto a roadway with forty times the traffic flow as the park access.
In the proposed transaction, the state will convey two parcels to Anderson totaling just over 23 acres across U.S. Highway 70 from the Crabtree entrance and not contiguous to other park property. In exchange, Anderson will convey just over 13 acres to the state that is contiguous to the park, plus additional compensation to create an equivalent exchange. According to state law, the additional funds received in this exchange will be earmarked to acquire lands contiguous to the park as opportunities become available. Currently, William B. Umstead State Park is over 5,500 acres.
“We look forward to the safety and convenience this new property will allow us to provide for visitors to one of our most popular parks,” said Susi H. Hamilton, secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Natural and Cultural Resources. “The additional funds will also allow us to acquire long-sought after properties adjacent to the park to meet Triangle residents’ growing demand for outdoor recreation.”
About North Carolina State Parks
North Carolina State Parks manages more than 234,000 acres of iconic landscape within North Carolina’s state parks, state recreation areas and state natural areas. It administers the N.C Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, including its local grants program, as well as a state trails program, North Carolina Natural and Scenic Rivers and more, all with a mission dedicated to conservation, recreation and education. The state parks system welcomes more than 19 million visitors annually.