Asheville Public Works crew provided support to help
the Green Opportunities landscaping students build the temporary trail.
Members of the Green Opportunities training program will join the City of Asheville for a 1 p.m. April 27 ribbon cutting and celebration of a recently constructed temporary trail on the future Town Branch Greenway, behind the Grant Southside Center, 285 Livingston St.
Green Opportunities teamed with the City for this greenway trail project, using students from GO’s landscaping and maintenance training program. April 27 will be the last day of their class and the students will be in attendance.
In partnership with a City Public Works crew, students crafted a natural surface path on a portion of the planned greenway. This temporary trail runs behind the Grant Southside Center and Asheville Fire Station No. 2. It is a 1,000-foot-long portion, 6-foot-wide trail running between Depot Street and South French Broad Avenue. The trail is made of “granite screenings” which is a very fine gravel the consistency of sand but more stable and compatible. The gravel trail is suitable for walking or cycling.
“The City of Asheville is very excited to have the opportunity to work with Green Opportunities on a trail project in the Southside community,” said City Greenways Coordinator Lucy Crown. “This is a great learning opportunity for the participants for the program as well as a ‘sneak peek’ of what a trail will look like in the neighborhood.”
The Town Branch Greenway is a shovel-ready ¾-mile-long greenway project that starts at the Grant Southside Center on Depot Street and Livingston Street and terminates at Phifer Street near the McDowell and Southside intersection. This greenway lies on flat terrain along the banks of the creek called Town Branch. This is an important East/West connection in the greenway network.
“The temporary trail is a step forward in this greenway while the City works to find funding to construct the entire greenway,” said Crown. “We have applied for federal funding through the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization and hope to hear soon if our proposal is awarded.”