Torrence Tributary II Greenway

Expanding Mecklenburg County’s Greenway System

After more than four years of planning, the Torrence Tributary Greenway II opened to the public in July 2024.

The greenway design was led by our landscape architecture group and connects the nearly 60,000 town residents previously divided by I-77.

We designed approximately 2,850 linear feet of ADA-compliant boardwalk with poured-in-place concrete decking to provide an all-terrain weather surface.

The greenway traverses unique terrain within a floodplain and floodway with multiple wetlands, along with significant rock outcrops not commonly found in the piedmont.

An art installation funded by the ASC includes 26 gobo projectors that display abstract images of the local stream network onto the tunnel walls.

Client: Town of Huntersville
Location: Huntersville, NC
Services: Engineering, Geospatial, Mapping, and Survey

Markets: Transportation
Completed: 2024
Region: Southeast

The Torrence Tributary II Greenway was a collaboration between Mecklenburg County, the town of Huntersville, Charlotte Area Transit System, North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), and the Arts and Science council (ASC). Our team provided surveying, landscape architecture, and hydraulic, structural, civil, and electrical engineering services for this project, which provides a crucial link for the Huntersville community.

The design of the greenway began in January 2020, however, work on one component, a tunnel under I-77, started in 2017. Mecklenburg County had an approved and adopted greenway master plan in 2008 that showed the greenway crossing I-77. As a result, NCDOT included a poured-in-place concrete tunnel under I-77 specifically to provide a connection for the greenway. Thanks to the foresight of NCDOT and the county, the greenway successfully links the more than 33,000 Huntersville residents who live on the west side of the tunnel with the 25,000 Huntersville residents who live on the east side.

The greenway traverses unique terrain within a floodplain and floodway with multiple wetlands, along with significant rock outcrops not commonly found in the piedmont. Although the rock outcrops provide a unique aesthetic benefit and local habitat to many plants and animals, they have resulted in the greenway being located predominantly within wetland areas. To minimize the impacts to the wetlands and maximize year-round use of the greenway, we partnered with the county to design approximately 2,850 linear feet of boardwalk with poured-in-place concrete decking to provide an all-weather surface and comply with Americans with Disability Act (ADA) regulations.

We provided flood study services to support a no-rise for the greenway improvements, which saved the county time and money. However, the same boardwalk needed to cross Charlotte Water’s sanitary sewer infrastructure in multiple locations without impeding future access. Working closely with Charlotte Water, we developed a solution using glulam substructure to achieve 20-foot spans, and included isolation joints in select locations of the board walk to allow sections of the boardwalk to be lifted out of the way in the future without the use of destructive demolition techniques.

We also provided electrical engineering for an art installation inside the tunnel under I-77, which was funded through the ASC. The installation, created by local artist Adam Buente, includes 26 gobo projectors that project abstract images of the local stream network onto the tunnel walls.

1.2

miles of greenway

2,850

linear feet of boardwalk

gobo projectors