Thank you Fox Carolina News for stopping by the inn today and asking us to comment on the upcoming vote from Greenville City Council to extend the GHS Swamp Rabbit Trail along Laurens Road to ICAR. Fingers crossed that they approve the funding for the expansion to include pedestrian bridges over Haywood and Verdae. Bridges can be a great way to increase visibility of the trail branding. We've seen it done very well on the bridges of the Silver Comet Trail in GA and the American Tobacco Trail in Durham, NC.
GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) -
UPDATE: Greenville City Council unanimously approved the new addition to the Swamp Rabbit Trail.
WATCH NEWS CLIP HERE
You'll find bikers, runners and walkers on the Swamp Rabbit Trail in Greenville County.
"I think it's a great way to showcase anything Greenville has to offer," Wendy Lynam, owner of the Swamp Rabbit Inn said.
She said the trail leads straight to her heart.
"I stood on the front porch, I looked out, I saw the trail- I was like 'the Swamp Rabbit Inn,'" Lynam said.
She loves it so much, she opened the Swamp Rabbit Inn, which is a bed and breakfast.
"People come here- some to bike, some come here for weddings and rent the whole house," she said.
There are bars, restaurants and stores along the trail geared toward cyclists and Lynam wrote a guide book for them entitled Cycling Greenville.
"I started putting together rides for them and one thing led to another and it turned into a book," she said.
And now there are talks to expand the trail near Laurens Road to Cleveland Park and to Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research, also known as ICAR.
"This potential extension is within city limits, but it is on property that the county owns," Lynam said.
Bob Mihalic is the Governmental Affairs Coordinator with Greenville County.
"Since the day it was built in 2009, it has grown three times since then," Mihalic said.
Greenville City Council members will vote on a resolution Monday to potentially provide more than $2 million for the extension.
"Where Greenville County owns the rail lines- we're always looking for ways to turn those rails into something productive for the community," he said.
The resolution asks for pedestrian bridges over Laurens and Haywood Roads as well as Verdae Boulevard. It also asks to use existing bridge on Woodruff Road for the trail.
A study shows more than half a million people used the trail last year and tourists brought more than $6 million to the Greenville County community.
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Read more: http://www.foxcarolina.com/story/27831280/greenville-city-council-to-vote-on-funding-for-swamp-rabbit-trail-extension#ixzz3OfcuVrnz