This article reflects multiple corrections made as of its original publish date of Oct. 14, 2021.
Earlier this week, we gave you the abridged news of 2 new pedestrian bridges coming to the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail. We want to dig a little deeper into a few events that got us to this point.
But first, here’s a refresh on what’s happening on the SRT.
The Swamp Rabbit Trail Extension Master Plan was approved in January, providing a framework for the development of an extra 4.5 miles to the Swamp Rabbit Trail’s Green Line — the portion of the trail that runs from north of Travelers Rest to Cleveland Park. The extension will run from Cleveland Park, along Laurens Road and down to Clemson University’s ICAR building.
There are 6 high-level goals for the development, but the main goal is to connect every nearby neighborhood to the trail (pedestrian bridges and safe traffic crossings being key objectives to execute). You can read the full plan here.
Let’s focus specifically on the development of the 4.5-mile extension. Greenville County (who manages the extension development) and The City of Greenville (who fund the bridge construction) have worked together to bring this extension, the bridges and the surrounding development to life. $4 million in funding had been set aside in anticipation of new pedestrian bridges to be incorporated into the trail.
When it came to quoting out these 3 bridge builds + the up-fit of an old railroad bridge over Woodruff Road, the City + the County jointly chose Palmetto Infrastructure for the estimate. The total estimate? $10 million.
In July of this year, both the County and the City agreed to have the new bridges development fall under the City’s management. The management of the extension development remains with the County.
That brings us to this week.
As of this week, the city successfully negotiated the original $10 million estimate to $6.4 million. This budget will allow for:
- 2 of the 3 new pedestrian bridges to be constructed — one over Haywood Road near Laurens Road + one over Laurens Road near Washington Street.
While a new bridge over Verdae Boulevard is not currently part of this new budget, plans for a new traffic crossing are with Greenville County, as are plans to retrofit the Woodruff Road railroad bridge.
Construction on the bridges is planned to finish up by November 2022 + and on the full extension by December 2022.
Thank you to Ty Houck — Director of Greenways, Natural and Historic Resources for Greenville County Parks, Recreation, & Tourism — for providing information on the Swamp Rabbit Trail + Green Line Extension development.
