West Ashley Greenway

Last updated

West Ashley Greenway
Length8.8 mi (14.2 km)
Location Charleston, South Carolina, United States
Trailheads Main Road
Folly Road
UseCycling, walking, hiking, jogging, skating
DifficultyEasy
SeasonYear round

The West Ashley Greenway is a rail trail in Charleston, South Carolina. It stretches across the West Ashley neighborhood from Main Road in the west to Folly Road in the east. It is a straight and mostly paved path utilized for walking, jogging, roller skating, and off-street cycling. The distance of the main trail currently covers 8.8 miles (14.2 km). [1] It is a contributing segment of the East Coast Greenway. In 2019, the U.S. Department of Transportation gave the city of Charleston a $18 million grant to build a pedestrian bridge across the Ashley River connecting West Ashley to downtown Charleston. [2] The planned pedestrian bridge may eventually connect with the Lowcountry Lowline. [3]

The former railway, chartered in 1853, was the Croghans Branch of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. [4] It was abandoned by Seaboard Coast Line Railroad in 1981 and over time, the City of Charleston entered into leasing agreements with utility companies that took over the right-of-way to allow for public access. The last section of the trail was completed in 2007.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Tobacco Trail</span>

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Coast Greenway</span> Long-distance hiking trail in the United States

The East Coast Greenway is a 3,000-mile (4,800 km) pedestrian and bicycle route between Maine and Florida along the East Coast of the United States. The nonprofit East Coast Greenway Alliance was created in 1991 with the goal to use the entire route with off-road, shared-use paths; as of 2021, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) of the route (35%) meets this criteria. In 2020, the Greenway received over 50 million visits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monon Trail</span> Shared-use path and rail trail in the U.S. state of Indiana

The Monon Trail is a rail trail located entirely within the state of Indiana. The Monon Railroad was a popular railroad line connecting the cities of Chicago and Indianapolis, with stops at major settlements along its route. After the decline of railroad travel and the sale of the company in 1987, the portion of the line between Indianapolis and Delphi, Indiana, was abandoned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midtown Greenway</span> Shared-use path in Minneapolis, USA

The Midtown Greenway is a 5.7-mile (9.2 km) rail trail in Minneapolis, Minnesota that follows the path of an abandoned route of the Milwaukee Road railway. It is considered under segregated cycle facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenway (landscape)</span> Shared-use path or linear park with vegetation

A greenway is usually a shared-use path along a strip of undeveloped land, in an urban or rural area, set aside for recreational use or environmental protection. Greenways are frequently created out of disused railways, canal towpaths, utility company rights of way, or derelict industrial land. Greenways can also be linear parks, and can serve as wildlife corridors. The path's surface may be paved and often serves multiple users: walkers, runners, bicyclists, skaters and hikers. A characteristic of greenways, as defined by the European Greenways Association, is "ease of passage": that is that they have "either low or zero gradient", so that they can be used by all "types of users, including mobility impaired people".

The Charleston and Savannah Railway was a 19th-century American railroad serving the coastal states of South Carolina and Georgia and running through part of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Its name varied slightly over time:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air Line State Park Trail</span> Rail trail in Connecticut, US

Air Line State Park Trail is a rail trail and linear state park located in Connecticut. The trail is divided into sections designated South, North a piece of the East Coast Greenway, and the Thompson addition. An additional 3.6-mile spur to Colchester is sometimes designated as part of the Air Line trail. At the Massachusetts state line, the trail connects to the Southern New England Trunkline Trail, a 22-mile-long trail to Franklin, MA built on the same right-of-way. Since 2018, the town of Portland, CT has also maintained a 2.3-mile portion of the Air Line trail, connecting to the southern end of the state park at the town line with East Hampton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genesee Valley Greenway</span>

The Genesee Valley Greenway is a rail trail in western New York's Genesee River valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manhattan Waterfront Greenway</span> Esplanade in Manhattan, New York

The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is a waterfront greenway for walking or cycling, 32 miles (51 km) long, around the island of Manhattan, in New York City. The largest portions are operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. It is separated from motor traffic, and many sections also separate pedestrians from cyclists. There are three principal parts — the East, Harlem and Hudson River Greenways.

The Fairhaven Branch Railroad was a short-line railroad in Massachusetts. It ran from West Wareham on the Cape Cod main line of the Old Colony Railroad, southwest to Fairhaven, a town across the Acushnet River from New Bedford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Bay Bike Path</span> Multi-use trail in Rhode Island

The East Bay Bike Path is a 14.5-mile (23.3 km) paved rail trail in Rhode Island. The path begins in Providence and India Point Park, crosses the Seekonk River via the George Redman Linear Park and Washington Bridge and continues southeast to Bristol along the shoreline of Narragansett Bay. The path passes through the city of East Providence, the hamlet of Riverside, and the towns of Barrington and Warren. It is part of the East Coast Greenway, a 3,000-mile system of trails connecting the Canada–US border in Maine to Key West. and provides access to Haines State Park, Brickyard Pond (Barrington), and Colt State Park. It is used annually by 1.1 million people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Great Rivers Greenway District</span> Government agency for creating a greenway network in metro St. Louis, USA

The Great Rivers Greenway District is a public agency created in 2000 to develop a regional network of greenways. Great Rivers Greenway engages citizens and community partners to plan, build and care for the greenways. In its first 20 years the agency built more than 128 miles of greenways connecting parks, rivers, schools, neighborhoods, business districts and transit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watertown Branch Railroad</span> Former rail right of way being converted to multi use path

The Watertown Branch Railroad was a branch loop of the Fitchburg Railroad that was meant to serve the town of Watertown and the City of Waltham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, as an independent short line railroad; it also serviced the Watertown Arsenal. The line has been formally abandoned and portions have been converted into a rail trail, the Watertown-Cambridge Greenway. A section from School Street to Arlington Street in Watertown was completed first. A small portion in Waltham has been converted into a park called Chemistry Station Park after the railroad station once located there. Construction of an extension to Fresh Pond Reservation in Cambridge began in the summer of 2018 and was completed in June 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trails in Detroit</span>

This is a list of trails and greenways in Detroit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neuse River Trail</span> Greenway trail in North Carolina, US

The Neuse River Trail is a 34.5-mile (55.5 km) long paved greenway located in the Raleigh area of North Carolina, running along the banks of the Neuse River from Falls Lake Dam to the town of Clayton. The route passes through the jurisdictions of Raleigh, Wake Forest, Knightdale, and Clayton in Wake and Johnston counties. The Neuse River Greenway trail is part of the Capital Area Greenway system as well as the Mountains-to-Sea Trail that crosses North Carolina from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks. Open to both cyclists and pedestrians, the Neuse River Trail is the longest greenway trail in North Carolina and the longest paved trail between northern Virginia and western Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rahway River Parkway</span> Greenway of parkland along the banks the main stem Rahway River

The Rahway River Parkway is a greenway of parkland along the banks the main stem Rahway River and its tributaries in Union County, New Jersey, United States. Created in the 1920s, it was one of the inaugural projects of the newly-created Union County Parks Commission. It was designed by the Olmsted Brothers firm, sons of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. The Rahway River Greenway plan expands on the original design. Many of the crossings of the river are late 19th century or early 20th century bridges. The East Coast Greenway uses paths and roads along the parkway.

The Lowcountry Lowline is a planned linear park in Charleston, South Carolina to be located on 1.7 miles of old railroad roadbed. It will run from Mt. Pleasant Street to Courtland Street. The park is being planned by the Friends of the Lowcountry Lowline. Since 2021, more than $10.25 million in city and federal funding has gone to the planning of the park. Currently, the park is in the community-engagement and strategy phase.

The Seaboard Air Line Railroad's East Carolina Line was the unofficial name of their line running from Hamlet, North Carolina through eastern South Carolina to Savannah, Georgia. Officially designated on Seaboard employee timetables as the Andrews Subdivision from Hamlet to Andrews, South Carolina, and the Charleston Subdivision from Andrews south, the line was known as the East Carolina Line by Seaboard employees due to its location in eastern South Carolina. With connections to the Seaboard's main line at both ends, the East Carolina Line was frequently used as an alternative freight route for the company.

References

  1. West Ashley Greenway Plan (Charleston City Government)
  2. Smith, Katie (November 6, 2019). "$18 million grant for Ashley River pedestrian bridge". CHStoday. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  3. "The history of the West Ashley Greenway". CHStoday. May 25, 2020. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  4. The Croghans Branch; Johns Island to Albermarle Point, South Carolina (Abandoned Rails.us)

32°47′13″N80°01′45″W / 32.78694°N 80.02917°W / 32.78694; -80.02917