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Sound Rivers, the City of Raleigh and The Great Raleigh Cleanup are joining forces to get another trash trap on an urban waterway.

Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop and The Great Raleigh Cleanup’s Preston Ross III met Tuesday with two representatives from Raleigh’s stormwater department to scout locations for the next trash trap. Their choice: Marsh Creek, which runs into Crabtree Creek, which then meets the Neuse River on the east side of Raleigh.

Sam said there’s an art to finding a good location for the trap.

“We went all along the creek looking for suitable places for a trap. We have to take into consideration stream flow, drainage area, impervious surfaces nearby that will funnel trash into the creek, and a big part of it is visibility and accessibility,” Sam said. “We want it to be a community effort, and for that people need to be able to access it, be able to see and to learn about it.”

Sam said she thinks they’ve identified a location, but Tuesday’s group will be circling back with other team members for their input.

“We want to make sure it’s a useful trap. There were some locations we visited where it was very accessible, but it really wasn’t flowing enough or didn’t have a lot of drainage area.

We have to find the ‘Goldilocks’ spot,” she said.

The City of Raleigh and Sound Rivers are hoping to contract for the installation of this trash trap and one other, location to be determined. The Great Raleigh Cleanup is also a partner in the two new traps, and will be monitoring the traps and organizing their clean-outs.

This will be the fifth trash trap installed as part of Sound Rivers’ Litter-Free Rivers program. Other traps are on Jack’s Creek in Washington, Duffyfield Canal in New Bern, Little Rock Creek in Raleigh and Adkin Branch in Kinston. The City of Greenville has approved the installation of another trash trap on a Tar River tributary.

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