RALEIGH – A multi-use path project in Wilmington earned first place honors as one of the best multimodal projects in this year’s N.C. Department of Transportation Mobi Awards.
Officials with the Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization took top honors for the project they nominated, Park Avenue Multiuse Trail Phase 2. The project earned first place in the contest’s Large Urban Category for projects that serve North Carolina’s communities with over 100,000 residents.
“This trail is just one of the many projects the city is working on as we try to build out their trail network and provide their citizens a safe, dedicated space for biking and walking,” said Abby Lorenzo, deputy director for the Wilmington Urban Area MPO. “Their work is not done. It continues. But I think this shines a light on the great work that’s being done and is something that should be celebrated.”
The 1-mile off-road path is 10 feet wide and is part of the River to the Sea Bikeway that follows the historic beach car line alignment from downtown Wilmington to Wrightsville Beach. It includes marked crosswalks and curb ramps, seven street crossings as well as two pedestrian bridges to cross a large drainage
The NCDOT Mobi Awards, now in its fourth year, honor towns, cities and counties for multimodal projects that spurred economic development, improved public health and enhanced communities. First, second and third place winners were selected in six categories – Rural, Small Urban, Urban, Large Urban, Innovation and Most Voted Project.
The Wilmington multi-use trail was one of 20 transportation projects entered into this year’s competition.
The completion of the Park Avenue Multiuse Trail has increased opportunities to use biking and walking for transportation and recreation.
Also in the Large Urban Category, City of Concord’s Hector H. Henry Greenway – Riverwalk project claimed second place honors and Cary’s Reedy Creek Road Improvements project took third place. Write-ups on all the winners can be found on the
NCDOT Mobi Awards online booklet.
This year’s Mobi Awards were hosted by NCDOT, the North Carolina Triangle Chapter of the Women Transportation Seminars, NC Go!, N.C. State University Institute for Transportation Research and Education, and ACEC: The American Council of Engineering Companies.
To see this year’s winning projects, including NCDOT-produced videos of the first place winners, visit the
Mobi Awards webpage.