New Swamp Rabbit Trail bridges are up, but you can't walk on them — yet
This story has been updated to correct the opening date for the Swamp Rabbit Trail extension and clarify that the Paperclip trail will be completed separately in 2023.
Greenville city workers have installed two bridges that will connect pedestrians to an extension of the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail Green Line, which will open in December.
The bridges are made of steel and will carry pedestrians, bicyclists and occasionally service vehicles up to 20,000 pounds, according to plans, and they are "well worth the wait," Mayor Knox White said Sept. 21.
Workers installed the first bridge over Haywood Road near Halton Road on Sept. 16 after a delay due to heavy rain. The second bridge was to be installed on Laurens Road near Washington Street on Sept. 28.
The bridges will open along with the county-built trail extension, while another important trail connection, the Paperclip, is supposed to be completed by the city in early 2023. The Paperclip will link the trail in Cleveland Park to the Laurens Road bridge.
The trail will ultimately be paved all the way up to Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research, though Ty Houck, director of greenways, natural and historic resources for Greenville County Parks, Recreation and Tourism, is trying to combat a rumor that it won't — "an unfounded rumor that started at the beginning and just won't die," Houck said.
"That has never been the case," he said.
Greenville City Council decided to pay $6.4 million for two new pedestrian bridges in 2021
The city paid $6.4 million for the prefabricated bridges after some debate over costs. Officials originally planned four bridges, including an up-fit of an existing bridge at Woodruff Road, but City Council decided to not fund the bridge over Verdae Boulevard when costs came back higher than anticipated.
Now officials want to build an underpass at Verdae for $2 million to make the crossing safer for pedestrians.
City Council debated last year how to pay for the bridges over Haywood and Laurens roads. They ultimately decided to use $4 million previously set aside and an additional $2.4 million in hospitality and accommodations taxes and capital-project funds.
Not all councilmembers, like councilmember Ken Gibson, initially supported dipping into the city's hospitality tax reserves, but ultimately he supported the allocation.
Adding to frustration was the county's timeline for its trail extension, a separate project. City Council members said the county was to blame for the extension's lagging timeline and bridges' mounting costs, but county officials denied bearing blame.
City officials have heralded the extension as a major asset for nearby neighborhoods and an important economic-development project. The extension is projected to generate $1.5 billion in new property value in the neighborhoods around the trail on top of the trail's existing $6.7 million annual economic impact and the estimated 85% sales boost it gives to trailside businesses.
In a master plan completed for the extension, architects' renderings depicted mixed-use storefront projects taking root along the trail, similar to small businesses like Willy Taco and Cohesive Coffee that are already in the area. The plan also prioritized nearby neighborhoods like Overbrook, Arcadia Hills, Nicholtown, Gower Estates and Verdae for trail access in the coming years.
White said the extension along Laurens Road is perhaps "the most urban stretch of the Swamp Rabbit Trail, yet it's also a place of great natural beauty."
"It really knits together a good number of diverse neighborhoods," he said.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: New Swamp Rabbit Trail bridges up in Greenville SC
