North Raleigh's Paved Loops Are Shrinking This Winter. The New Miles Are on Dirt.

Three of North Raleigh's paved routes are going into construction on overlapping schedules. The Crabtree Creek Greenway at Lassiter Mill Road is about to close, and Lake Lynn's west side will close for about a year. The Neuse River Trail between Buffaloe Road and River Bend has been closed since March. Each project is fixing something worth fixing. Together, they take a lot of paved trail out of use at the same time.

The new trail mileage this year is somewhere else. Annie Louise Wilkerson, MD Nature Preserve, near the south shore of Falls Lake, opened five new loops for 2026, and all of them are natural surface. For the next year or so, the open walking in North Raleigh runs farther north and onto dirt.

Three closures, three different schedules

The three projects don't share a start date or an end date. Here is where each one stood in the City's most recent updates.

• Crabtree Creek Greenway at Lassiter Mill Road, mile markers 9.5 to 10.25. The City's greenway alerts page lists the section by those mile markers. As of the City's Oct. 9 status alert, it was still open but expected to close "in the coming weeks." The project page gives an October 2026 construction start and completion by Fall 2028.
• Lake Lynn west loop. City Council awarded the construction contract to Fred Smith Company on Sept. 15, 2026. Work is expected to start in late 2026 and take about a year, and the west side of the lake will be closed the whole time. The project schedule puts completion in Summer 2027.
• Neuse River Trail, Buffaloe Road Athletic Park to River Bend Park. This section is closed with no trail detour, and the trail access at both parks is closed too. The City alert runs the closure from March 9, 2026, through Dec. 31, 2027.

Two smaller closures add to the list. Part of the Border Trail at Durant Nature Preserve is closed for stormwater construction, which the City's August alert expected to run through Fall 2026. At Shelley Lake, the Sertoma Arts Center is temporarily closed for renovation. The lake trail is still open.

The posted dates are estimates, and in a few places the City's own pages disagree. The Crabtree alert has a structured end date of Jan. 1, 2028, while the same alert's text and the project page both say Fall 2028. A CBS17 report from April expected construction to start in June. That start slipped to October. For Lake Lynn, the council bid item expected construction within 45 to 90 days of the Sept. 15 award. That puts the west-side fencing somewhere between the end of October and mid-December.

The closures are upgrades

Each closure is repairing a specific problem on a route that gets heavy use.

At Lassiter Mill, the problem is the road crossing. CBS17 covered the crossing in April and reported the City's plan to route the trail under the road. The City describes the work as streambank stabilization and trail improvements. That includes realigning the greenway beneath the Lassiter Mill Road bridge to make the route safer and more convenient. So for the next two years, this stretch of Crabtree trades its road crossing for a closure, and then for an underpass.

At Lake Lynn, the west-side rebuild covers a new base and asphalt surface, wider trail, drainage and access fixes, new pavement markings and a bridge replacement. The Lake Lynn Park page lists 2.8 miles of greenway around the lake, with parking at 7921 Ray Road. The City's Lake Lynn Loop page adds a lot at 3210 Lynn Road. While the west side is closed, the full lap around the lake is off the table.

The Neuse closure is about what's underneath the trail. The City's Upper West Neuse Interceptor project is replacing about 11,400 linear feet of 48-inch sewer pipe along the west side of the river, from Beaverdam Creek to north of I-540. The City reports that the sewer installation across the river is finished and that work on the bypass system is underway, with the trail expected to stay closed through the end of 2027.

All three projects move the payoff to 2027 and 2028. In the meantime, you need somewhere else to walk.

Where the new miles are

The Wilkerson preserve at 5229 Awls Haven Drive added five loop trails across its 157 acres for 2026.

1. Epps Forest Loop, 0.65 miles, through some of the preserve's oldest oak-hickory forest.
2. Hidden Rocks Loop, 0.81 miles, through pine-oak forest to a series of rock and boulder outcrops.
3. Pond Loop, 0.54 miles, around a one-acre pond with active beaver dams.
4. Prairie Loop, 0.31 miles, along the forest edge of the west field.
5. Overflow Loop plus the Overflow-to-Office Connector, 0.45 miles combined, a mostly flat loop through the east field and pine forest.

These trails are different from the ones closing. They're unpaved walking trails with gentle to moderate hills, most have some stairs, and bikes aren't allowed. The preserve is closed on Mondays, opens at 10 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and opens at 1 p.m. on Sundays. The City also lists closures on Nov. 11 and Nov. 26.

If you're used to a longer outing, the 0.14-mile Mountains-to-Sea Connector branches off the Epps Forest Loop and joins the statewide Mountains-to-Sea Trail. That trail follows the south shore of Falls Lake to the Neuse River. From the main parking lot to Falls Lake Dam is about 3 miles one way, or 6 miles round trip.

A swap for each closed route

Your best substitute depends on which route you're losing and what you use it for.

• If you're losing Crabtree at Lassiter Mill: Shelley Lake has a 2.1-mile paved trail, with parking at 1400 W. Millbrook Road. The City's greenway parking list adds a lot at 1140 W. Millbrook Road. For more distance, the Mine Creek Greenway runs 4.2 miles between Sawmill Road and Crabtree Creek, on a mix of paved and unpaved surface, and connects to Shelley Lake. Access points include 1800 Stannard Trail.
• If you're losing Lake Lynn's west side: The Honeycutt Creek Trail covers 3.8 miles between Raven Ridge Road and Strickland Road, with parking at 8115 Strickland Road, 8000 Bent Creek Drive and 1032 Clear Creek Farm Road. The segment from Raven Ridge to Durant is unpaved and open to foot traffic only.
• If you're losing the Neuse between Buffaloe and River Bend: Start farther north. The City's greenway parking list includes a Neuse River Trail lot at 12098 Old Falls of Neuse Road, at the Falls Lake Dam recreation area. Horseshoe Farm Nature Preserve, at 2900 Horseshoe Farm Road, has its own 0.9-mile Meadow Loop, a 0.6-mile River Walk and a paved connector to the greenway. The Milburnie Dam lot at 1101 Old Milburnie Road isn't a workaround. The City limits it to staff and first responders.
• If you want paved miles that link to shopping: The Abbotts Creek Trail is 3.3 paved miles connecting the Neuse River Greenway with Simms Branch. It gives access to Falls River Town Center, Green Hills County Park and Durant Nature Preserve, and parking is at 9300 Deponie Road and 2090 Falls River Avenue.
• If you want woods and water close to home: Durant Nature Preserve at 8305 Camp Durant Road has five miles of trails through woods and wetlands and around two lakes. Only part of the Border Trail is affected by the stormwater work.

November on the open trails

The fall programs are at the same preserves that are picking up the slack.

• Thursday, Oct. 29, 6 to 7:30 p.m.: The free Lake Lynn Trunk-or-Treat is at 7921 Ray Road. Registration is encouraged but not required.
• Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2 to 4 p.m.: A Fall Colors Walk at Durant.
• Saturday, Nov. 7: Durant has two walks, "Secret Partnerships in Nature" and "Marvelous Mosses!", listed on the City's program calendar. Horseshoe Farm runs its "Early Birds" birding program from 8 to 9:30 a.m. the same morning.
• Nov. 19 and Nov. 20: Lake Lynn Community Center hosts a Gals & Pals cookie-decorating night on Nov. 19. Letters to Santa starts Nov. 20 and runs through Dec. 17.
• Wednesday, Nov. 25, 10:30 a.m. to noon: Wilkerson's "CSI: The Mystery of the Disappearing Deer" is for ages 9 to 16 and costs $4.

Another project is already scheduled. The Mine Creek Greenway, one of the main substitutes for Crabtree this winter, has its own rebuild coming, with resurfacing, widening, drainage and bridge work. The City's schedule estimates construction from Fall 2027 to Fall 2028. Since posted dates keep shifting, the most reliable way to keep up is the City's greenway alerts page, which also lets you sign up for closure updates by email or text.

If you're weighing a move within North Raleigh and want to know which greenway access points are near a street before construction changes the picture, Jamie Buckley is glad to help. Let's Connect.