Designs for the first five miles of the Saluda Grade Trail are about 60% complete and were unveiled to the public at an open house meeting in Landrum in August.
The first five miles of the 31.5-mile rail trail will start at the North Carolina line near Tryon and extend south through Landrum in northern Spartanburg County to Hulon Howard Road.
About 300 people turned out for the event hosted by PAL: Play, Advocate, Live Well, the nonprofit spearheading the South Carolina section of the trail which will run from below Inman to the state line between Landrum and Tryon in Polk County, North Carolina. Representatives from SeamonWhiteside, the design team for the South Carolina section, and Conserving Carolina, the nonprofit spearheading the North Carolina section, were also on hand to share information and answer questions.
Plan highlights
According to the Saluda Grade Trail Conservancy — a partnership between PAL and Conserving Carolina — permitting for the initial five-mile section is ahead of schedule. With 60% of the design complete, the trail route is set, locations for bridges and retaining walls have been determined and environmental impacts have been resolved.
Highlights of the design so far include:
- Trail width: Most of the route will be a standard 12 feet in width, expanding to 16 feet with concrete borders through downtown Landrum and shrinking to a 10-foot width in sections crossing wetlands
- Surface: Two inches of asphalt atop a gravel base
- Road crossings: Nine are proposed at Ridge Road, Greenwood Road, East Durham Street, East Coleman Street, East Rutherford Street, East Tucker Street, S.C. Elastic Road, Landrum Mill Road and Hulon Howard Road
Plans also identify potential trailheads and parking opportunities near the state line, at the Landrum Depot and at Boyd Cycling, which fronts the trail route and U.S. Highway 176 south of Landrum.
Next steps
PAL and Conserving Carolina have been soliciting bids from contractors interested in removing and salvaging track materials.
The start of construction on this initial phase is contingent on funding. Part of that funding is being sought through an Appalachian Regional Initiative for Stronger Economies (ARISE) federal grant administered by the Appalachian Regional Commission.
The criteria for an ARISE grant in part drove the decision to begin with the five-mile section starting at the state line, according to Laura Ringo, PAL’s executive director.
She said the grants from this program typically go to projects that impact multiple communities across county and state lines.
The Saluda Grade Trail Conservancy has applied for $10 million in grant funding from the ARISE program — $5 million for the South Carolina portion and $5 million for the North Carolina portion.
Ringo said funding through a U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant helped cover the costs of planning for the entire 15 miles of trail in the Palmetto State. She said much of the work to date has been preparatory and procedural, but soon people will be able to see physical changes in the landscape once a contractor is chosen to remove and salvage the track materials.
Ringo said she is cautiously optimistic the trail may receive ARISE grant funding because of the transformative impact the Saluda Grade Trail is likely to have on the communities it will connect.
She added community support and engagement through meetings like the one in Landrum remains strong.
“We’re excited by what’s happening,” Ringo said.
Saluda Grade Trail fast facts
Dreamed of for decades, the trail will follow the historic but now defunct Saluda Grade rail line through three counties in both Carolinas.
- Built in the late 1870s, the route was the steepest mainline rail section in the country with an average grade of 4.2% and a maximum grade of 5%.
- The rail trail will run from Inman in Spartanburg County at an elevation of 1,001 feet and reach its highest point at 2,097 feet in Saluda, North Carolina.
- The 31-mile route passes through Inman, Gramling, Campobello and Landrum in South Carolina and on through Tryon and Saluda in Polk County, NC, before ending in Zirconia in Henderson County, North Carolina.
- The steepest section is between Tryon and Saluda where it climbs more than 1,000 vertical feet in a little over eight miles.
