It’s time to make progress on the Piedmont Greenway, backers say – Greensboro News & Record

GREENSBORO The nonprofit Piedmont Land Conservancy alerted transportation officials Wednesday that after two decades of talk and planning, the proposed Piedmont Greenway through Guilford County is ripe for action.

The proposed 19-mile route would link Greensboros trail and greenway system to that of Winston-Salem, following the wending path of Reedy Fork Creek to the Forsyth County line, PLC conservation planner Palmer McIntyre said.

Were here because we have the plan and lets start building support for it, McIntyre said.

McIntyre told the Greensboro Metropolitan Planning Organization on Wednesday that the concept dates to the early 2000s, an initial master plan was completed in 2003 and supporters recently have updated it.

McIntyre said the nonprofit conservancy has taken on the role of champion of the project and its facilitator. She said PLC hopes to bring together the government and private groups that could make progress building the bicycle and pedestrian link between the A&Y Greenway north of Greensboro and the Salem Lake trail network in Winston-Salem.

Founded in 1990 and based in Greensboro, the conservancy works with landowners to help them preserve farms, woodlands and other property important to the environment in its natural state. The group has helped conserve more than 27,000 acres in Guilford and eight other counties in the Piedmont Triad region where it focuses.

The local MPO supervises transportation planning and construction projects in Greensboro and much of Guilford County outside of High Point. Greensboro City Councilwoman Marikay Abuzuaiter chairs the panel that held its monthly meeting Wednesday afternoon.

McIntyre said the greenways 11-mile, Guilford leg would be built in three sections at an estimated cost of $22.3 million. It realistically could take another 20 years to complete, she said.

But she said it would deliver many benefits for that investment by providing a footpath linkage to a variety of community assets that include Bur-Mil Park, Summerfield Park, Oak Ridge Town Park, Triad Park, and the business districts of Colfax, Kernersville, Oak Ridge and Summerfield.

McIntyre said Forsyth County is ready to start construction on its first section of the greenway near Salem Lake.

McIntyre did not ask the Greensboro planning group to take any action at Wednesdays meeting. But she said later that the MPO could play a future role as the governmental link between local officials and the state Department of Transportation that often provides significant amounts of construction money for regional bicycle and pedestrian projects.

Other levels of government also would be involved as the project moves forward. For example, the cost of the 2.8-mile first leg between U.S. 220 and Interstate 73 would be lessened because Greensboro city government already owns much of the land as part of its watershed protection program, McIntyre said.

Other greenway and trail advocates addressed the Guilford County Board of Commissioners earlier this week at the county officials annual retreat, urging them to consider adding money for the Piedmont Greenway and other such projects in an upcoming bond referendum that the board is considering.

Contact Taft Wireback at

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It's time to make progress on the Piedmont Greenway, backers say - Greensboro News & Record