Progress continues on the plan for a rail-trail project that would convert more than 18 miles of inactive Durham County rail corridor into a multiuse trail. Combined with a joint project to the north in Person County, it would create the 26.2-mile Durham-to-Roxboro Rail Trail.

The Durham County section of the project would start in downtown Durham, picking up where the planned Durham Rail Trail will end at its easternmost point. The Durham Rail Trail, which will be about 1.8 miles long, is expected to open in 2028.

The Durham-to-Roxboro Rail Trail would then continue north on the east side of the county, through Bahama and Rougemont, before crossing into Person County. There is not yet a set timeline for when construction will begin, as Durham County is still in the planning phase.

“We like that this trail will have a real urban feel to it on the southern end and that it will retain a very rural feel in the northern part of it,” said Andrew Meeker, the North Carolina manager for the East Coast Greenway Alliance.

The ECGA is one of five organizations leading the project, including Durham County, the Triangle West Transportation Planning Organization (TWTPO), the City of Durham Parks and Recreation Department, and the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT).

The initial miles of the trail would be part of the East Coast Greenway, a nationwide rail-trail system stretching from Maine to the Florida Keys that is currently in development. There is already an existing section that runs from Durham to Raleigh, which will be complemented by the new southern segment of the Durham-to-Roxboro Rail Trail.

While the initial portion of the route would run through downtown Durham and its surrounding developed areas, much of the 18 miles—along with the additional eight miles in Person County—would pass through largely undeveloped rural and wooded landscapes.

Amid the current period of heavy development in and around Durham, Meeker said that for many miles the trail would be surrounded by conserved natural areas. The trail would pass by land managed by N.C. Wildlife, the Triangle Land Conservancy, and N.C. State’s G.W. Hill Forest.

This project has been envisioned for decades, since the discontinuation of railroad operations in 1983. But Meeker said it became a real possibility when the project’s partners began working with The Conservation Fund, a national conservation organization, to acquire the land from the railroad’s owners, Norfolk Southern.

While The Conservation Fund has led the effort to acquire the rail corridor, Meeker said that the five leading organizations have been working since Oct. 2024, on their final planning study. This 372-page report was published in early November on their website and will be used by participating municipalities. The planning process included a period of public engagement, including a community survey that received nearly 3,000 responses.

Meeker said the vast majority of the feedback has been positive, with more than 80% of respondents expressing support.

“It’s something people are excited about and that there’s an appetite for and a lot of engagement around,” Meeker said. “So we were really thrilled to see that level of interest.”

But some have expressed concerns about the project, including Ricky Hart, chairman of the Stagville Descendants Council.

The Stagville Plantation in Durham was one of the largest plantations in North Carolina and in the U.S. South, encompassing 30,000 acres across four counties and worked by approximately 1,900 enslaved people. About 75% of the railroad corridor to be transformed was once on Stagville land. Hart and the seven members of the Descendants Executive Board are all descendants of people enslaved at Stagville.

After the project reached out to the Stagville Descendants Executive Council and gave a presentation on the Rail Trail, Hart volunteered to serve on the project’s advisory and naming committees. But he said the council’s pledge of support is now in flux.

One of Hart’s concerns is the possible use of eminent domain, when the government takes private property for public use, to acquire land for the project. Eminent domain was used during the 1940s construction of the Camp Butner military training camp in Durham County, which stripped many Black landowners of their property. Hart said he worries that this pattern could repeat with the rail-trail project, noting that similar language—“for the best interest of the public”—was used in both projects, a phrase commonly used to justify eminent domain.

The Durham-to-Roxboro Rail Trail project website and the recently published planning study both state that eminent domain is not expected to be used for the project.

Hart is also concerned about funding. He expressed skepticism that the project would be able to secure federal funding, citing recent federal blocks on funding for rail-trail projects. He also voiced opposition to any property tax increases or potential bond referendums that might be proposed to support the project.

Meeker emphasized that a large portion of the funding comes from dedicated state and federal transportation sources that cannot be used for other public goods. He also pointed to studies showing that rail-trail investments can have positive economic impacts on their communities.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding the Descendants Council’s support, the Stagville State Historic Site—an organization that the council works side-by-side with—hopes to use the trail to help honor the legacy of the Stagville Plantation and its descendants.

Vera Cecelski, site manager for the Historic Site, said she hopes the trail can help elevate the stories of real people connected to the land.

“I would love to see, in a rail trail, waysides or outdoor signage that engages people,” Cecelski said. “Things like oral history and direct testimony from descendants who can actually tell their family stories in their own words.”

Meeker said that in addition to honoring Stagville’s history, the rail trail will highlight the Indigenous communities who originally inhabited the land, including the Great Trading Path. Also known as the Occaneechi Path, it served as a central route for trade and travel for Carolina Indigenous people for centuries.

“A greenway trail like this doesn’t exist in a vacuum,” Meeker said. “It is situated in a place, in a landscape that has history and has ties to the people who live there.”

Updates and progress are available on the Durham-to-Roxboro Rail Trail website.