Transportation Planning

The Belmont Planning and Zoning Department works with many other state and local governmental agencies, as well as non-governmental agencies, for transportation planning. The City supports multimodal transportation that seeks to improve the pedestrian and bicycle transportation environment in addition to improvements in vehicular transportation.

The Planning and Zoning Department created a pedestrian master plan in 2009. This effort was made possible through a grant from the NCDOT Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation.

The City also participated in the planning of the Carolina Thread Traila multi-use trail system that will connect 15 counties in the Charlotte region. The City of Belmont is currently applying for a grant to design a rail-trail on the Belmont Spur of the Piedmont and Northern Railroad line that runs from Woodlawn Street to Belmont Abbey College and Downtown Belmont. This area is part of the Carolina Thread Trail. The 2009 annual report for the Carolina Thread Trail is available to the left.

The City of Belmont has also received a grant from NCDOT to implement a Safe Routes to School program that will encourage elementary and middle school students to walk or ride bicycles to school.

Vehicular transportation planning is coordinated in Belmont through the Gaston Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. Please visit the MPO website for information on the county's thoroughfare plan as well as for the Garden Parkway. The Garden Parkway is a project of the North Carolina Turnpike Authority.