Latest expansion to Swamp Rabbit Trail opens in Greenville

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After years of planning and execution, the 28.2-mile Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail Green Line extension is officially open for use.

The project’s master plan was launched by the city of Greenville in November 2019, and the Greenville City Council adopted the last development strategy for the trail’s 4.5-mile extension in January 2021. The Swamp Rabbit Trail is a 23-mile greenway system routed between Greenville and Travelers Rest.

The master plan explored land use and connectivity opportunities within a five-minute walk of the planned Green Line extension, stretching from Cleveland Park to the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research alongside Laurens Road.

Essentially, three distinct projects were constructed as part of the trail extension plan: Cleveland Connector (“The Paper Clip”), Laurens Road Bridge and Haywood Bridge. Calin Owens, city of Greenville mobility coordinator said there is a plan in the works for another grade separated crossing—a pedestrian bridge — over Verdae Boulevard.

Owens said in September the Laurens Road corridor is already built out and “urbanized,” and the extension will allow greater access to residents and commuters to their offices, businesses, homes and recreational activities while being an economic driver for the city. The trail counter had estimated more than one million people a year are on the Swamp Rabbit Trail.

The extension project was originally planned to be completed in March, but there were a few unforeseen challenges, said Owens. The three main challenges were supply issues, weather, which delayed the project by nearly two months, and they encountered rock as a part of the excavation portion, in which they had to hammer it out and remove it, he said.

What’s next for the Swamp Rabbit Trail

As far as what’s next for the Swamp Rabbit Trail, Owens said the city is currently working on the design of a project that would connect three neighborhoods to the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail Green Line extension: Nicholtown, Gower, and Verdae. Two of the connections will feed the Gower neighborhood, one at the Industrial Drive intersection of Laurens Road and one at the Henderson Drive intersection of Laurens Road. The Henderson Drive connector will be tying down to Verdae and won’t be far from the Legacy Park extension, said Owens. The city is hoping it will be in the position to permit and bid out this project by the end of the year, then would potentially start construction in early 2024.

The Legacy Park extension is currently under construction, and the goal for completion is at the end of this year, said Owens. This project is being completed by the Verdae development.

Greenville County owns the “trail property,” which is considered the abandon rail line, said Greenville County Governmental Affairs Coordinator Bob Mihalic. County crews paved the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail Green Line extension, while the two bridges that were a part of the project were funded by the city.

As far as the county’s part in any future extension of the trail, said Mihalic, it would begin expansion once the city builds the third pedestrian bridge over Verdae Blvd. The county doesn’t have any further information regarding the timeline of this extension at this time, he said.

In summation, the city builds the bridges involved in the projects, and the county paves the parts of the Swamp Rabbit Trail that connects to the bridges, and then maintains the trail and bridges, said Mihalic.

Owens said there is still the possibility of public and private easement opportunities along the trail including access to the Washington Heights redevelopment and Holland Park development, as well as the development of a village center in Verdae with public open space. The original extension master plan also proposed a potential nature preserve around the CU-ICAR property.