Building a greenway isn’t all that different from building a road, said Frank Maguire, greenway coordinator of the Roanoke Valley Greenways Commission — there are similar laws and regulations to be followed, and a lot of red tape.
Three sections of the Roanoke River Greenway, the backbone of a 40-mile system of trails throughout the valley, are actively being built.
When measuring miles, most of the Roanoke River Greenway is finished, but, as Maguire said, those are “the easy parts.”
Right of way acquisition, environmental regulations, technical design — not to mention the need to coordinate among multiple localities — make the remaining pieces tough to plan and build.
The Roanoke River Greenway is listed as the priority in the Greenway Plans spanning back to the initial plan written in 1995. It spans the city of Roanoke and Roanoke County, Salem, Vinton and Botetourt County.
[Read more about the history of the Roanoke Valley’s greenways: 30 years after it was first envisioned, the Roanoke River Greenway is the centerpiece of a still-growing network of trails.]
“If these three pieces we’ve talked about are completed … these would be the final, essentially, would be 25 miles of uninterrupted greenway from one park in Roanoke County, through the city of Salem through the city of Roanoke to Explore Park and on the other end of Roanoke County,” Maguire said. “And that’s huge.”
Click on the interactive map below to see photos of where work was underway this summer on the Roanoke River Greenway:
West Roanoke River Greenway Phase 1
This phase, which began construction at the end of 2023, stretches from the West Riverside Drive trailhead to Kingsmill Drive in Salem. The 0.6-mile project is a joint effort with the city of Salem, with oversight from the Virginia Department of Transportation.
The project will cost more than $12 million, with federal and state funding coming from the Highway Safety Improvement Program, the Regional Surface Transportation Program and the Smart Scale Program.
Construction is anticipated to be complete by next summer.
The construction is happening right along the water line. A portion of the greenway will run along West Riverside Drive and will connect to the existing greenway in Salem.
Engineers planned a retaining wall parallel to the base of an existing bedrock slope along the river, to avoid any degradation to the existing slope that Riverside Drive sits atop. A safety railing will be installed for walkers and bikers.
Cofferdams, in-water construction barriers, have been placed in the river to protect wildlife and draw back the water, creating a dry work area for contractors.
Since the greenway will be raised above the waterline, there will not be an access point to the water from the trail within this section, but greenway users will have a view overlooking the river.
Planners and builders were hit with some environmental challenges with this project. Roanoke County hired a contractor to conduct an acoustic survey to determine if there are endangered bats in the area they’re planning to excavate.
Webb said after this survey, under the assumption that there was a possibility of species in the area, they decided to stop excavating during the winter when bats are raising their pups.
Species the county is on the lookout for include three bats — Northern long-eared bats, Indiana bats and tri-colored bats — and a fish, the Roanoke logperch.
East Roanoke River Greenway
Two construction zones are active on the east end of the greenway: a short section that runs under the Blue Ridge Parkway, and a 2-mile stretch that will continue to Roanoke County’s Explore Park.
The first was coordinated with VDOT to run the trail under the Blue Ridge Parkway, through a tunnel. Webb said the trail will run parallel to the road, and because of the narrowing of the roadway, oncoming vehicles will have to yield to each other under the tunnel. A shoulder-height wall will separate and protect those traveling on the greenway.
The section of Highland Road that intersects with the Blue Ridge Parkway closed for a time to allow for construction and reopened in mid-August. This segment of trail should open in a couple of months.
This section of construction is funded by the Federal Lands Access Program, the Transportation Alternatives Program and Roanoke County.
Because this portion of the project is on federal land, Webb said the team had to get environmental permits to complete the work there. The section being built through the tunnel is about 0.3 miles. To extend to Explore Park, which is the goal, it will be about 2 miles.
The section will also cross the closed Roanoke regional landfill, which will feature a small trailhead parking lot.
These two portions of the East Roanoke River Greenway — the tunnel section and the section that connects back to the Roanoke River on the Roanoke side of the Bedford County line — are being built together. A third section through Explore Park, ending at Rutrough Point, is planned to be done by early 2025.
The second section currently under construction is a dirt trail winding through grassy land — another old landfill, now Roanoke Valley Resource Authority land.
“We get more economies of scale by combining the two projects together,” said Roanoke County engineer David Henderson.
What’s next?
After all this work is completed, the Roanoke River Greenway still won’t be quite finished.
Planners want to extend the network to Green Hill Park in Salem, which would be an extension of about a quarter-mile. They are considering a few options. They can either spend about $10 million building two bridges across the river or negotiate with property owners to build along West Riverside Drive, which Maguire estimates would be half the cost.
For now, planners and the Greenway Commission are still weighing their options, and no funding has been set aside for this project.
[Read more: “Critical” portion of the Roanoke River Greenway remains in the planning phase. Here’s why it’s been so challenging.]
