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[vicupstate]

From Greenville News:



Mary Walsh said she did virtually no advertising before opening Swamp Rabbit Cafe and Grocery in what used to be the offices of a meat-packing plant on Greenville’s Westside.

On the first day, the new business was overwhelmed by customers dropping in from the Greenville Hospital System Swamp Rabbit Trail, she said.
“I don’t know if we would be in existence if it weren’t for the trail,” Walsh said.

Walsh’s experience illustrates how an economy of shops and restaurants has begun to develop along the 17.5 miles of trail that are often filled with bicyclists and walkers.

Supporters gathered in Walsh’s store Wednesday to unveil new data showing how people are using the trail and how it has affected businesses. They hope to use the figures to promote active living, recreation and economic development.

“We need data first to drive policy changes,” said Furman University’s Dr. Julian Reed, who studied a year of trail use.
Reed, an associate professor of health sciences, estimated that about 359,000 people used the trail in its first year.

It was busiest on weekends, primarily Saturdays, with peak time from noon until 1:30 p.m., Reed found. The most used access point was Duncan Chapel Road on Furman’s campus.

More than 90 percent of users were on the trail for exercise or recreation, while 6 percent used it for transportation, Reed found.
Bicycling was the most frequent activity, followed by walking, running and rollerblading, he wrote.

Most users lived within 15 minutes of the trail, drove to access it and spent one to two hours on it, Reed wrote.

Supporters said the trail has helped drive a rise in sales at some businesses and encouraged new businesses to open, while promoting physical activity amid a rise in obesity rates.

“It gets people out of their cars, onto their bikes and onto their own two feet,” said Lisa Hallo, director of the sustainable communities program for conservation group Upstate Forever.

Greenville County Councilman Willis Meadows said the trail is an asset as officials recruit businesses to the county.

“Businesses are looking for a healthy, productive work force,” he said. “The trail is a thing they look at and say, ‘This is one of the ways that people can get out.’”

Reed’s study focused on the 9.5-mile segment from the hospital’s North Greenville campus in Travelers Rest to Linky Stone Park in Greenville.
Fountain Inn also has a short section of Swamp Rabbit Trail not connected to the rest but the hope is to one day link the parts, creating one long path from one end of the county to the other.

For the city of Greenville, the challenge now is to connect neighborhoods to the trail, said City Council member Amy Ryberg Doyle.
It will take “a lot of work and money, money, money,” she said.

Nine owners or managers of retail businesses within 250 yards of the main trail were interviewed for Reed’s study.

Most businesses reported sales or revenue increases from 30 to 85 percent, Reed wrote. One business decided to open as a result of the trail, and one business saw a 30 percent increase in sales after moving to be closer, he wrote.

More businesses are on the way, said Ty Houck, director of greenways, natural and historic resources for the Greenville County Recreation District.
A bicycle business serving international customers plans to move into the same former meat-packing complex as Walsh’s store in May, he said. A massage therapy business also expects to open on the site, Houck said.

Another bicycle business could also move to the former plant, drawing customers from as far as 250 miles away, he said.

Advantages of having a business on the trail include more recognizable branding and new people visiting because of the location, Reed wrote.
The biggest disadvantage was people using businesses’ parking spots to visit the trail, he found. Also, some businesses noticed that providing access to the bathroom led to a rise in utility bills, he wrote.

Funding for Reed’s study came from the Environmental Protection Agency through Upstate Forever. Additional funding came from the Greenville Pickens Area Transportation Study and Furman University.

Trail supporters packed Walsh’s store on Wednesday, chatting among the aisles of locally grown lettuce, granola bars and other food. They dug into their pockets to pay for cups of coffee and pastries.

“We do local food here,” Walsh said. “We do fresh and healthy foods. With the trail being here, we get to expose that to all different types of people.”
“Businesses are looking for a healthy, productive work force,” he said. “The trail is a thing they look at and say, ‘This is one of the ways that people can get out.’”

Reed’s study focused on the 9.5-mile segment from the hospital’s North Greenville campus in Travelers Rest to Linky Stone Park in Greenville.
Fountain Inn also has a short section of Swamp Rabbit Trail not connected to the rest but the hope is to one day link the parts, creating one long path from one end of the county to the other.

For the city of Greenville, the challenge now is to connect neighborhoods to the trail, said City Council member Amy Ryberg Doyle.
It will take “a lot of work and money, money, money,” she said.

Nine owners or managers of retail businesses within 250 yards of the main trail were interviewed for Reed’s study.

Most businesses reported sales or revenue increases from 30 to 85 percent, Reed wrote. One business decided to open as a result of the trail, and one business saw a 30 percent increase in sales after moving to be closer, he wrote.

More businesses are on the way, said Ty Houck, director of greenways, natural and historic resources for the Greenville County Recreation District.
A bicycle business serving international customers plans to move into the same former meat-packing complex as Walsh’s store in May, he said. A massage therapy business also expects to open on the site, Houck said.

Another bicycle business could also move to the former plant, drawing customers from as far as 250 miles away, he said.

Advantages of having a business on the trail include more recognizable branding and new people visiting because of the location, Reed wrote.
The biggest disadvantage was people using businesses’ parking spots to visit the trail, he found. Also, some businesses noticed that providing access to the bathroom led to a rise in utility bills, he wrote.

Funding for Reed’s study came from the Environmental Protection Agency through Upstate Forever. Additional funding came from the Greenville Pickens Area Transportation Study and Furman University.

Trail supporters packed Walsh’s store on Wednesday, chatting among the aisles of locally grown lettuce, granola bars and other food. They dug into their pockets to pay for cups of coffee and pastries.

“We do local food here,” Walsh said. “We do fresh and healthy foods. With the trail being here, we get to expose that to all different types of people.”

[GvilleSC]

This trail is tax money well-spent, and a great example of City-County-City partnership! I'd love to get some residential spinoff development to go along with the commercial side of things... But, I guess the new West End park will help with that, at least near the downtown portion of the trail.