‘Currency in the cornfields’
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David Vanderlaan of Murphy enjoys cycling on the Virginia Creeper Trail, dreaming of the day Cherokee County will have its own 14-mile, world-class trail from Andrews to Murphy for folks to enjoy for generations to come.
Murphy — Some folks believe the railroad tracks between Andrews and Murphy can be turned to gold.
When Rick Ramsey was mayor, a group of people started to talk about converting Cherokee County’s old railroad lines into a walking or bicycling trail. Ramsey was not among them.
“We don’t want a trail,” he said definitively. “Trails don’t bring (the town) any money.”
It is this argument that local resident David Vanderlaan is attempting to dismantle.
“Trails are powerful economic drivers for the community,” he said.
The idea for his Rails to Trails mission ignited in 2020, when the N.C. General Assembly narrowed the 200 feet total right of way – 100 feet on either side of the tracks – down to 50 feet. This made the landowners, who had been forced to forfeit that land in 1980, very happy. However, this does not make the train’s return an impossibility.
That’s because in addition to the 25 feet of right a way on either side of the track, the N.C. Department of Transportation also retains an additional 15-feet access easement outside that, for a total width of 40 feet on each side, or 80 feet total, according to Lauren Haviland, communications officer for Divisions 3 & Rail with the DOT.
“The corridor is being maintained and preserved for future rail use,” she said. “There are many rail corridors that are only 50 feet wide (total) or less.”
Haviland said in order to return the railroad to service, the cost of needed improvements to the corridor between Andrews and Murphy was estimated in 2018 to be about $10.3 million.
Local economic impact
However, Vanderlaan wants cyclists, pedestrians, parents with strollers or kids learning to ride their bikes to benefit from that land instead of trains. He hopes to convert the rails into a paved trail that will connect Andrews to Murphy on a 14-mile stretch he calls Rails to Trails.
The 14 miles sit stagnant today, but Vanderlaan can feel the potential under those tracks.
“We can impact our local economy with a trail,” he said. He sees currency in the cornfields.
“If we compare the trail we want to build to one that is already up and functioning – say, the Virginia Creeper Trail – they are bringing in $60 million in commerce between Damascus and Abington.
“The Virginia Creeper trail has a similar history to ours. Their local leaders transformed the unused train track into a trail, and they had to buy the right of way on either side.”
Vanderlaan is trying to educate his neighbors and community leaders how they can turn what he calls “a useless piece of real estate into a trail that can produce up to $60 million for our area.” He is working with the Southern Appalachian Bicycle Association, which is using private donations to conduct a $10,000 study through the University of North Carolina to quantitatively explain the economic advantages behind building the trail.
Recycling for repairs
Vanderlaan even has plans for how to fund the project.
“We can contract out to the county park system for trail maintainance,” he said. He believes he holds a golden ticket to cover the cost of building the trail.
“Those railroad tracks are made from 100-year-old steel,” Vanderlaan said. “It’s high quality, but the NCDOT can’t recycle it into their new projects because technology has changed the way the tracks were laid.”
He said the new versions are laid with mega-long welded links.
“The track between Andrews and Murphy,” he said, “is shorter and it’s bolted together.”
He sees dollar signs in that unusable track.
“Steel has value, a recycle value,” Vanderlaan said.
He believes the cost of taking up the tracks and putting down a trail can be mitigated by the sale of the tracks themselves. But he also points to federal grants.
“There is federal money out there,” Vanderlaan said. “Washington recently passed an infrastructure bill with huge amounts of money for alternative transportation.”
The main objections to building the trail, however, are not related to the town costs.
“Most people incorrectly believe their property values will decrease,” he said.
That’s not what happened to homeowners on the Virginia Creeper trail. Their property values went up based on the vibrancy of new commerce that the trail brought in. In other words, the towns within the trail became desirable places to live.
Personal safety
Some people aren’t just worried about personal economy. They are concerned for their safety.
They believe crime rates will increase if people begin flooding to town to cycle or walk the trail. Vanderlaan laughed at that idea.
“How is someone going to wander off the trail to a nearby house, break in and carry a 60-inch TV on his shoulder while riding his bike?” he said. He argued that crime rates drop in busy pedestrian areas because the risk of exposure is too high for criminals.
Vanderlaan suspects some of the property owners who were given back their right of way are holding out that the DOT will abandon their land long enough for them to claim the property.
“This takes 100 years, so they must be thinking of the future benefits for their family,” he said.
Vanderlaan didn’t originate this trail idea, he simply picked up the torch. About 30 years ago, a group of citizens pitched the idea to then-mayor Bill Hughes.
The group actually had funding in place, but they failed to impress town leaders. Vanderlaan said Hughes was particularly nostalgic over trains, having ridden them in his youth.
“So we have to address the nostalgia factor as well,” Vanderlaan said with a laugh.
He concedes that he will likely be too old to use the trail should it become a reality. But he’s pushing for it because he believes it would be an important addition to the two communities.
“It would connect Andrews with Murphy on a traffic-free path,” he said. “It would be an interconnected recreational system for the whole county.”