The Virginia Department of Transportation’s Commonwealth Transportation Board has awarded the City of Waynesboro $320,000 in Federal Transportation Enhancement Program funds for Phase Two of the South River Greenway Trail Project.
The grant money will fund the planning, design and partial construction of a 1.2 mile trail that extends from the Dominion Virginia Power Pavilion in Constitution Park northward to North Park. This extension will continue Phase One of the Greenway Trail, which will link the YMCA with Constitution Park, that is scheduled to be completed sometime early next year.
“This is a great project for Waynesboro,” stated Waynesboro Director of Planning Michael Barnes upon learning that the City had been awarded the grant. “It will link several neighborhoods and parks to Downtown, provide another recreational resource for people living near the trail, and improve the quality of life for the entire City.”
The grant request included provisions in the construction phase for not only the grading and paving of a 10 foot trail, but stairs, pedestrian bridges, benches, bike racks, a canoe launch, trailhead signage and landscaping. Work on the trail plans should begin sometime early next year with public input into the specific alignment for the trail.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board awarded a total of $21.9 million in enhancement grants this year as part of the Transportation Enhancement Program. The funding will support approximately 71 projects throughout the state such as biking and hiking trails, crosswalks, pedestrian walkways, sidewalks and streetscaping, and transportation–related tourism initiatives.