The majority of the route is via greenways. The route crosses through the Art Museum Park, but all the rest are edged. This route uses two on my favorite beltline crossings, the Reedy Creek Pedestrian bridge, and the Ligon tunnel.
From Dix Park, the route follows the Walnut Creek Trail by the north edge of Lake Raleigh and on to Lake Johnson. The hills of the Athens Dr. neighborhood flatten out as the route crosses Western Blvd. and uses the Ligon tunnel connector to find Beryl Rd., and eventually the PNC Center. The Loblolly Trail and Edwards Mill connector lead to the Reedy Creek Trail and the Art Museum Park. From there, the route basically follows the Art to Heart corridor with an edit at Royal St. to avoid the Hillsborough/Gorman intersection. The Rocky Branch Trail flows down through the NC State main campus, and back to Dix Park. This route is good core route as it is easy to stretch or shrink.
Did you get the five parks? Dix, Lake Johnson, Kentwood, Art Museum, Pullen Park.
The Link
There are a couple ways to get to the Loblolly Trail from the Lake Johnson area. This link uses the Ligon tunnel under 440 – at least for the time being. The beltline widening project will surely shut that connector for a time, as this little one-lane tunnel dates back to the sixties, and is surely not up to current code. Beryl Rd. is usually quiet, and the connections just west of the fairgrounds are also neighborhood streets.