Hillsborough Street is Raleigh's fitness hot spot

The Strava Heat Map for Raleigh shows that Hillsborough is the most active road in Raleigh for runners and cyclists.

Mitchell is hardly alone in making that loop. A heat map produced by data collection firm Strava Labs shows Hillsborough as the most heavily-trafficked exercise corridor in Raleigh outside of the greenway and parks system.

Within the parks system, the heat map shows Lake Crabtree to be home to the most activity.

Because the data is entirely self-reported by a certain demographic of exercise aficionados who choose to use the service, the maps themselves are not meant to be utilized in any sort of city or regional planning endeavor.

Planning tools, however, are necessary for city infrastructure. In Raleigh, bike and pedestrian planning is handled separately from greenway planning.

In Raleigh, the incorporation of bike lanes on Hillsborough Street, for example, was not originally in the Phase I plan, but was later added in due to requests from Raleigh residents.