By Meg Hibbert
Contributing Writer
At an Aug. 25 public input meeting, Salem City Engineer Will Simpson told the audience about possible plans for future sections of the Roanoke River Greenway in Salem.
Later that evening city Councilmembers voted unanimously for a resolution of support for funding Salem’s part of the Greenway from the parking lot on West Riverside Drive to Mill Lane and then to the Roanoke County line.
The Greenway is a paved pedestrian pathway along the river that currently connects Roanoke County, Salem, Roanoke City and the Town of Vinton. When finished it will be 25 miles. Right now it is 14.2 miles, including Green Hill Park in Roanoke County.
“There’s nothing set in stone for this section of the Greenway,” said Simpson. “This is a crucial piece, and the last unfunded piece that will complete the Greenway in Salem.”
The Greenway will be built somewhere between West Riverside Drive and the another business there, and the River Rock Restaurant.
Simpson explained the Virginia Department of Transportation is currently building a portion of the trail at Rotary Park underneath the Rt. 419 Bridge near Apperson Drive. Simpson said that portion is funded and estimated at $1,073,156.
He estimated the Mill Lane section of the Greenway and west would probably be completed within three to four years. Simpson said the Greenway section to Cook Drive near the Roanoke City line would likely be started after the Apperson Drive Bridge is completed.
That construction underway now is estimated to take another 16 months.
Meanwhile “to add even more misery to Apperson Drive motorists,” Simpson said, VDOT will be installing a traffic signal at the heavily traveled intersection at Apperson and Orchard.
Simpson said the Mill Lane section of Greenway “will not be an official project until funding is approved.”
At the meeting Barry Trent of Roanoke County, chairman of the Roanoke River Greenway Commission, said he was looking forward to the completion of the Greenway in his area.
“This great for people to use the Greenway to get almost all the way to Green Hill Park,” said Trent, who lives a mile downstream.
The Greenway in Salem is wheelchair accessible, and is heavily used by walkers, joggers, bicyclists and people walking their dogs.
Salem’s citizen members of the Greenway Commission are Russ Craighead, Steve Powers and Dee King, along with city employees planner Max Dillon and engineer Joshua Pratt.
