Mary Black Rail Trail

[westsider28]

Construction on the trolley plaza at the Forest Street park entrance has begun, and it should be complete by the middle of May.

PAL is also raising money for a NFL Play60 course for the park. (like this, but w/Panthers logo)

Finally, as I suspected, SCDOT has been delaying the Rail Trail extension into downtown, as this article pretty much confirms.  "The approval process has taken several months of the back-and-forth between SCDOT, the City of Spartanburg and Toole Design Group."  Yeah, no joke.  More like over a year.  I hope it gets resolved soon, so construction can start.  Screw SCDOT.  (Oh, and I found this diagram on Toole's Facebook or Twitter. Not sure if it's the final design.)

[Spartan]

That's exciting! I'm looking forward to this project. 

Great sleuthing on the design!

[westsider28]

The H-J has an update on the Rail Trail park (nice photos too).  The trolley pavilion is almost complete at the entrance to The Rail Yard (the name of the park).  It has historic info on glass panels about the trolley line that passed through there and trolley barn that was on site (I've seen the panels in person; very cool).  They'll be adding benches and a community info board soon.

There are several fitness stations further down the trail that are being installed.  A mountain biking course in the wooded area of the park should be built in early Fall.

The full plan includes an amphitheater with terraced seating and a stage; a great lawn with picnic areas and a multi-use field; open-air tree houses; a water misting station; bike racks; paved and natural trails; a designated dog area; a Spartanburg Water bottle refilling station; a bathroom facility; and an NFL Play 60 obstacle course.  However, there's still additional fundraising to be done for some of those amenities, so I'm not sure what the schedule is for them to be built.

But it's good to have a few pieces already in place.  This should be a fantastic and heavily-used park when complete.

Edited June 7, 2017 by westsider28

[westsider28]

Work on the Rail Yard Park has picked up dramatically of late.  Seating (including cool concrete "lounge chairs"), stage and sod have been put in at the amphitheater; paths (concrete, asphalt and paving stone) have been installed; significant landscaping is underway (particularly lots of trees).  As I said before, this should be a very popular park once completed.  The City really is in the midst of an unprecedented number of quality-of-life investments.

[Spartan]

This is a fantastic park. This, in and of itself, is probably not THE difference maker in the community, but one of the many small layers that will make Spartanburg a more attractive place to live,

[westsider28]

The Panthers Play60 course (and the rest of The Rail Yard park) had it's grand opening today!  I'm definitely going to try out the 40-yard dash & obstacle course sometime.

[Spartan]

That's pretty cool 

[westsider28]

So I emailed someone at SCDOT to get some info on the status of the Rail Trail downtown extension.  They mentioned travel lane widths as an issue they were working through (I'm sure they want wider car lanes...ugh).  The current (tentative) timeline is Spring-2019 for ROW acquisition (isn't it all within existing street ROW? What do they need to acquire?), and Spring-2020 for construction start.   Pretty disappointing / depressing.  This is taking soooooo long.

[Spartan]

It's a standard build process for that kind of thing. It could get built faster if ROW acquisition goes fast. They're going to have to build some of it off of the street though. That's inevitable.

[djh1963]

this was in the PAL newsletter

 

Three new segments are progressing through the process toward implementation. 

 

Engineering for the extension of the Mary Black Foundation Rail Trail from Henry Street to Barnet Park has been approved by the South Carolina Department of Transportation. The project should go out to bid in the next month or two, with construction starting this summer.

 

Engineering for the continued extension of trail along the Lawsons Fork to East Main Street should be complete very soon. Next steps include getting proposals from contractors and working out construction details. 

 

The extension of the Wadsworth Trail from its current terminus on Copper Line Road across the property of Westview Elementary to Oak Grove Road has been approved and funded. Construction should begin within the month.

 

We are very excited to see dirt moving on all three of these projects, all of which make great connections to existing trails and important destinations. Stay tuned for more!

[Spartan]

Awesome, thanks for the update!

[westsider28]

Looks like the Toole Design project page for the Rail Trail extension has been updated. They're really grasping a technicality on the notability of the project, "The City of Spartanburg will become the first community in SC to install a separated bicycle facility, with buffers and physical separation, on a roadway controlled by SCDOT." Haha, I guess that's something.  Anyway, the rendering looks pretty solid.  I hope we'll get a look at the full design at some point before construction.

[Spartan]

That's a noteworthy accomplishment given that we aren't even a top 10 city anymore in terms of population. Having a connection that would take you from downtown all the way to Glendale on a completely separate path will be a decent tourist draw.

The rendering is hilarious though. I know the focus is the cycletrack, but I can't help looking at the guy who is taking a picture of the rather unremarkable second floor of Broadwalk 

[westsider28]

Thanks to some lucky late-night Googling, I found this presentation about the downtown Rail Trail extension (PDF, mainly starts on page 25).  Lots of info in there.  It looks like Union and Kennedy Streets will have a (11-12 ft) separate multi-use path (like the Rail Trail or Mary H Wright Greenway) next to the road, while Converse Street will be a proper on-street, separated cycletrack (10 ft wide).  It specifically mentions bike signals at the Main Street and Broad Street intersections, which I think could be a first in the Carolinas.  There's also a unique signalization at Converse and Kennedy to merge cycletrack and normal bike lane traffic.

Aside: I really wish they would extend the cycletrack one more block south on Converse to Henry.  The proposed set-up is very awkward if you're heading south on the bi-directional cycletrack (on east side of street) to switch to a normal bike lane (on the other side of street) for one block, then merge back over (somehow?) to the newly extended and repaved Mary H Wright Greenway (multi-use bi-directional path on east side of street).

Unfortunately, there is no focus on the Henry Street crossing at Union Street, so I'm a bit concerned about that.  That's sort of the key to everything, and that crossing needs a dedicated signal to be safe.  Nothing on the awkward Union--Kennedy intersection either.  I also separately saw that the SCDOT website shows construction not happening until 2020, which clashes with the PAL statement a few posts ago.  I hope it isn't delayed again...

 

Edited March 20, 2019 by westsider28

[Spartan]

So it's a shared use path on Kennedy and Union to connect to the existing rail trail?

[westsider28]

2 hours ago, Spartan said:

So it's a shared use path on Kennedy and Union to connect to the existing rail trail?

Yes.

[westsider28]

I couldn't find a broader trail thread, so I'll put this here.  You may have seen some teasers recently for "The Dan".  There's even a website (also a teaser, for now).  All will be revealed Thursday, Sept. 5, 5-6 pm, at FR8yard.  Spoiler alert: it's branding for a comprehensive trails/greenways network. 

I found the picture below and this Spartanburg Downtown webpage a long time ago (hence the out-of-date dates).  And I know that a branding effort has been planned for well over 5 years.  Hopefully we get some more hard details at the reveal.  Supposedly, tons of money has been raised behind the scenes. (maybe $12M like the site says?)  The hold-up always seems to be SCDOT, RRs, easements, etc.  Anyway, looking forward to Sept. 5 and hopefully seeing more movement on trails in the near future!

[Spartan]

I love this, but what does "Dan" mean?

[westsider28]

19 minutes ago, Spartan said:

I love this, but what does "Dan" mean?

Shortened from Daniel Morgan.  It's supposed to be a clever/endearing colloquialism along the lines of "The George" and "The Tom" (YMCA), I imagine.

[westsider28]

The City has put the Rail Trail downtown extension out for bids (finally)!  You can see the full plans here (PDF).  Bids are due October 10, then one would be selected/awarded at a subsequent Council meeting.  So construction should be underway by the end of the year, hopefully.

As for the design, I think it's great overall.  It will be the first of its kind in SC, and should set the standard for protected cycling infrastructure in the state.  Hopefully we can get some national attention once it's complete.  Here are some notable plan sections:

That said, I'm disappointed that it looks like SCDOT nixed any special treatment at the Henry Street crossing, and it appears to be a normal crosswalk.  Furthermore, the right-turn-only from Union onto Henry is a potential death-trap for trail users.

Anyway, this will definitely be a big positive overall.  I can't wait for it to finally get started, after all these years!

[Historyguy]

Honestly, I'm glad to see the "no turn on red" from Henry to Union.  And that right from Union to Henry is already somewhat of a death trap for pedestrians...  hopefully it can be made a little more visible.  That intersection always scares me when I have to walk or jog through it on the way to the rail trail.  

[westsider28]

Here it is: The Daniel Morgan Trail System, aka "The Dan".  Lots of good links there.  And you can also donate to the trails effort, if you're so inclined.  Also, here's an H-J story about the announcement. 

As far as soon-to-happen trails, the Rail Trail downtown extension was mentioned (which we already know about).  Also, the Vanderbilt Road trail heading west should start in October.  I think it will be isolated initially, but will eventually connect to the greater system.  Also, the Drayton Trail connection under the RR tracks toward the Cottonwood Trail should happen next year.  Lots to look forward to!

Here's a system map with updated segment construction dates (more timing info here as well):

[westsider28]

The Dan signage going up at trails all over town (via PAL):

P.S. - Anyone know how to embed Facebook/Instagram/Twitter posts?  I can't figure out how to do it.

Edited September 17, 2019 by westsider28

[Spartan]

I think the name feels a bit forced, but I like the fact they are thinking of all of the trails as part of a system and spreading that information in a coherent way. Definitely an A for effort. I'll hold my opinion on the execution until I see the final product.

I'm not surprised to see SCDOT nix anything interesting or different. There COULD, however, be a signaling solution where you have a leading pedestrian interval, essentially allowing pedestrians an exclusive walk signal for a few seconds to let them get across the street first.

[westsider28]

Since Ricky's decided to relocate and sell their lot after their building fire, there are four large parcels around the Rail Trail Henry/Union trailhead that are currently for-sale (see map below).  This intersection could change significantly in the next several years.  And I just saw on NAI Earle Furman's site that the former Cannon Roofing site is apparently under-contract.  Something to keep an eye on.