Greenville City Council Adopts Swamp Rabbit Trail Extension Master Plan

In November 2019, the City of Greenville launched a master planning process to take a closer look at land use and opportunities for connections to the planned 4.5-mile extension of the Swamp Rabbit Trail from Cleveland Park to CU-ICAR.

The completed Master Plan and Design Guidelines were adopted by Greenville City Council on January 11, 2021.

The Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail is a 22-mile greenway system routed between the City of Greenville and Travelers Rest. The system boasts more than 500,000 annual users and reaches its goals of providing active transportation alternatives while simultaneously promoting economic vitality in the region.

The Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail Extension is a planned 4.5-mile extension on an abandoned rail bed that begins at Cleveland Park on the edge of downtown Greenville and extends southeast to Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research (ICAR). The extension differs greatly from the existing trail, creating new and exciting opportunities.

It runs through a dense, built environment providing proximity to a larger resident population. This difference greatly influenced the overall goals and vision for the extension master plan. The overarching goal of this area master plan is to ensure connectivity and access to the future trail from surrounding neighborhoods.

Additionally, this plan provides a detailed investigation of the opportunities for trail-supportive development and redevelopment along the Laurens Road corridor that encourage housing diversity and promote economic growth. The vision was developed with the community through a wide range of engagement events including small and large group discussions, public design sessions, and online surveys.

In anticipation of the trail’s extension in the spring of 2022, this plan sets forth a series of public investments, development policies, and design guidelines to guide the growth and change of this corridor. The timeline of the top 10 projects identified in this plan will no doubt be affect by our post-COVID-19 recovery, but there is no doubt that this corridor will be a long-term success story for the City of Greenville and Greenville County.

The Swamp Rabbit Trail Extension Master Plan and Swamp Rabbit Trail Extension Master Plan Design Guidelines are both available for review online.

Past Meeting and Engagement Events

View consultant presentation and video recording of the September 24, 2020 virtual meeting.

View consultant presentation from the December 17, 2019 post-design meeting.

View consultant presentation from the November 4, 2019 kick-off meeting.

For planning purposes, the study area is called the Swamp Rabbit Trail Extension Corridor Area.

NOTE: Design and construction of the trail extension itself is a separate project managed by Greenville County.

Prepared by the City of Greenville.