Southeast - Help with commuting route: Cary to Durham - North Carolina

A coworker has expressed some interest in commuting between his home in Cary, NC to Durham (Duke University area) and asked me for some advice about routes. I have offered to map some possibilities as well as test ride some of them with him but it looks a bit daunting. If anyone has any real riding experience between these points, it would be very welcome.

Thanks

-G

American Tobacco Trail?

Yeah I was gonna say...isn't there some big rails to trails thing going on there? If nothing else, try the bike function on google maps.
Check it out:
https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Durham,+NC&daddr=Cary,+NC&hl=en&sll=35.8935,-78.844757&sspn=0.315396,0.676346&geocode=FbE5JQIdRRpM-ynxZg8SceSsiTF-8kaKidp64Q%3BFbQiIgIdQ-VN-ylDi0r_VL2siTHhS0Ra249WRA&dirflg=b&mra=ls&t=m&z=11&lci=bike

Yes, the American Tobacco Trail is good for the last leg into Durham. His problem is negotiating all of the traffic between Morrisville and RTP. Other than taking a long circuitous route, there don't seem to be any options. I was hoping to find someone that rides this way and knows the secrets

Thanks to all

G

I don't know the bike routes well but one possibility might be to bike to the Regional Transit Center (RTC) in RTP, put the bike on a bus (I think the 700 goes to Durham), and then ride the bus to a more bike-friendly stop and then hop off and bike the rest of the way in. Or perhaps bike to a stop that will take you to the RTC and then change buses. It's generally not a long wait between buses.

Probably not the best solution but perhaps one to consider if all else fails.

Hello by the way to my fellow Durhamites!

I regularly ride from the Raleigh area to Durham, and the only place I ever get into any difficulty (traffic) is actually in Cary. The big question, then, is this: where in Cary does OP live? From some areas, the ATT is highly accessible. From others, a little finagling is needed. The good news is that Cary drivers are fairly used to seeing cyclists, so you ought to be OK. Just stay off Davis and be wary of cycling within RTP. Google maps has sent me down a company's private drive more than once, and they really don't like that one bit.

I am assuming you have seen this map of Cary, but if not:

http://www.townofcary.org/Assets/Planning+Department/Planning+Department+PDFs/bicycleplan/bicyclemap.pdf (http://www.townofcary.org/Assets/Planning+Department/Planning+Department+PDFs/bicycleplan/bicyclemap.pdf)

I regularly ride from the Raleigh area to Durham, and the only place I ever get into any difficulty (traffic) is actually in Cary. The big question, then, is this: where in Cary does OP live? From some areas, the ATT is highly accessible. From others, a little finagling is needed. The good news is that Cary drivers are fairly used to seeing cyclists, so you ought to be OK. Just stay off Davis and be wary of cycling within RTP. Google maps has sent me down a company's private drive more than once, and they really don't like that one bit.
I'm pretty sure that he lives on the western side, between Harrison and Maynard. I have offered to test ride some routes with him but I would say that I am probably the more motivated one. Thanks.

Thanks nordies, especially since you did your first post in response to my request. Welcome to the forum.

I have had mixed luck with municipality produced biking maps. They are generally good; however I think they must use some weird logic for some of their recommendations.

-G