New barbed fence blocks downtown pedestrian route

Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton expressed his dismay at a new eight-foot-tall, barbed-wire fence that runs along the perimeter of Estes Park Apartments, erected by the complex’s management and blocking a frequently used path for walkers and bikers between northern Chapel Hill and downtown Carrboro.

Chilton’s dissatisfaction with the obstacle mirrors the feelings of others in the area who regularly use the pathway as either an alternative to driving or to walking or biking on the traffic-heavy Estes Drive Extension to North Greensboro Street.

The blocked path is an old driveway to the former property of Leo Merritt, who lived in a house built across the railroad tracks in the early twentieth century. When Estes Park Apartments were built in 1971, the access point was acknowledged as a formal railroad crossing and was once the primary access road to the old slave cemetery in Chapel Hill.

The Town of Chapel Hill now owns the Merritt land and Chilton has expressed concern over the new fence’s legality. Fortunately for those offended bikers and pedestrians, plans are currently in the final stages for a sidewalk stretching from Estes Park to North Greensboro Street.

—Staff reports