The Lexington Chamber got an update on progress to extend the Saluda River Greenway all the way to the Lake Murray Dam at its July 11 Business Over Breakfast meeting.

The project, announced last year, is set to connect the existing Saluda Riverwalk to the popular reservoir that straddles the counties of Lexington, Richland, Newberry and Saluda. The current trail stretches from the Sanctuary at Boyd Island in Columbia (near the Interstate 126 bridge across the Congaree River) to just shy of where Interstate 26 crosses the Saluda River. 

Mark Smyers — executive director of the Irmo Chapin Recreation Commision, which has taken charge of the greenway project — told those in attendance that the greenway is progressing through the design phase.

The greenway is being planned in three phases, progressing in order from the Lake Murray Dam, with Smyers explaining that they are currently flagging the center line in the third phase to determine where exactly the trail will go along that stretch. This final aspect of the design process should wrap within six months, he said.

In total, the addition would extend the existing riverwalk, which stretches about three miles, to 10.5 miles.

“Probably a two-year construction timeline is what I’m told,” he said of how long it will take to complete once they get started with the work. “It’s not super complicated of a construction, but it is a long way to go.”

When construction will begin remains up in the air, making it hard to say when the project will be complete.

“I would love to be able to confidently say, you know, give us three years, five years or something like that,” Smyers said. “I don’t know that I have that answer today because a lot of that is not in our control.”

The closest point of the greenway to Lake Murray will exit on to Bush River Road just shy of the road’s intersection with North Lake Drive. There will also be a parking lot at this trailhead, with an entrance off Bush River Road at the intersection with Old Selwood Terrace. The lot will have room for 100-plus vehicles.

“We could add more spots if we want to, but we don’t want to,” Smyers said. “We want to keep the trees, we want to keep some of that natural space.”

The greenway will continue along Bush River Road past Dominion Energy’s hydroelectric operation and then proceed down to banks of the Saluda, where it will continue until it links up with the existing greenway running through Saluda Shoals Park.

Installing the trail close to the Saluda will necessitate the installation of multiple bridges, with the largest one being a prefabricated bridge to cross a creek near Sandy Island.

The trail within Saluda Shoals, which has been shutdown for about a year and a half as the City of Columbia completes extensive sewer upgrades, has simultaneously been raised to a standard that will be matched across the new greenway sections: sidewalks that are 12 feet wide.

“The 12-foot width is going to give us a little bit more elbow room and account for the small family as well as that biker as well as the random person on roller skates that’s cruising through,” Smyers said.

The second phase of the greenway extension picks up on the other side of Saluda Shoals Park and continues hugging the river, ending near the Gardendale Canoe Access and Radio Lane.

The exact course of the third phase, linking the new greenway with the existing Saluda Riverwalk, has yet to be determined.

This third stretch will bring with it two crucial challenges: crossing Interstates 20 and 26. Smyers said he and his team are working closely with the state Department of Transportation to figure out how the riverwalk and the existing bridges carrying the interstates over the Saluda will coexist.

All of this work is moving forward with the comfort of knowing the project is fully funded. 

“The total scope of this is $22 million, and we’ve been able to generate it all in a year,” Smyers said of gathering the combination of local, state and federal funding that are making the greenway possible. “It speaks to the specialness of what’s going on. And the heightened awareness and desire for more connection to nature, more opportunities for outdoor recreation. It was the right conversation at the right time, and the stars aligned and everybody saw it. It was the easiest process to walk through.”

Smyers isn’t alone in anticipating what the extended greenway could bring to the area.

“We’re a lot closer than we’ve ever been,” Lexington Chamber President and CEO Angelle LaBorde said. “This is a great project.”

If all goes to plan, it could be a key piece of a larger dream to form a seamless walking trail going all the way from the lake to the Columbia Canal path in Riverfront Park to the riverwalks running through West Columbia and Cayce.

The River Alliance is in the planning stages to install a walking bridge across the Congaree connecting the end of the Saluda Riverwalk to Riverfront Park, while the City of Columbia has secured funding to mend the path connecting Riverfront Park to the Gervais Street Bridge, which ruptured along with the Columbia Canal during the “Thousand-Year Flood” of 2015.

And yet, Smyers is still dreaming bigger, musing about a walking bridge across North Lake Drive, connecting the greenway with the walking path across the dam.

“We’ve got a tremendous opportunity for a pedestrian bridge here that could be just special, a great, beautiful area for our community to kind of experience something very, very unique,” he said. “A pedestrian bridge ... right at the lake. It could be iconic.”