Roanoke Valley Greenways and the Appalachian Trail
Posted on March 30, 2007
In 1921, a well-educated man with a vision named Benton MacKaye wrote a simple essay that gave birth to the Appalachian Trail. His theory was that Americans were losing their leisure time and, with it, their ability to dream and shape their culture.
The country had been consumed with World War I and the changes brought about by the industrial revolution. Inflation and unemployment were the worries of the day. Today, how often do you hear that our lives are more hectic than ever? We’re preoccupied with a war on terror. Another economic shift has forced people to find new ways to make a living. Our very idea of freedom is being affected by the changes in the world around us. But, if we listen to the ideals that breathed life in the grand mountain trail that passes right through our city, we can find a way to shape the culture of Roanoke.
The idea of a continuous trail, protected by a greenway, is a simple one. Getting it completed is more difficult. In 1993, Roanoke’s Valley Beautiful Foundation proposed an urban version of our beloved Appalachian Trail that would run through our city. It made sense. No other city is so uniquely situated between the Appalachian Trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway. By 1995, a conceptual plan for a network of greenways that traversed the Roanoke Valley between these two American treasures had been completed.
It took sixteen years to complete the Appalachian Trail, which extends 2175 miles from Georgia to Maine. It has been 14 years since the Roanoke Valley Greenways project was proposed. This certainly doesn’t discount the efforts of Pathfinders and other volunteers. The very nature of an urban greenway is much different from a footpath through the wilderness. Acquiring land and easements in an urban setting is more complex. Getting the municipalities of our Valley to work together takes time and effort.
In fact, one of the critical factors for success identified by the Greenway Commission was the completion of a highly visible, multi-jurisdictional pilot project. The Commission identified the Roanoke River Greenway as the signature project that would demonstrate cooperation among municipalities in the Valley and serve as the “backbone” of the valley’s greenways. For this reason, it is the only project that has been assigned top priority by the Commission, meaning that they would like to complete this particular greenway within five years.
A volunteer organization called Pathfinders for Greenways puts in almost 5000 volunteer hours each year working on the trails. Federal and state grants have paid for some of the development. Since 1995, more than $11 million has been spent to complete almost 35 miles of the proposed greenway network. This includes the completion of 10 of the proposed 51 trail segments, as well as many footbridges, information kiosks and access trails.
To complete the Roanoke River Greenway, 31 miles of trails will have to be established. The County of Roanoke will be responsible for completing 8.1 miles running from Spring Hollow Reservoir to Diuguids Lane. Another 5.8 miles will run through the City of Salem from Diuguids Lane to the Roanoke city limits. The City of Roanoke will complete 11.1 miles of trails picking up at the Salem city limit and running through Wasena over 13th Street to the Town of Vinton. From there, the Town of Vinton completes the route to the Franklin County line at Explore Park. Acquiring the right-of-way for the route will cost more than $4 million, with the total cost for the project approaching $30 million. Approximately two-thirds of the proposed greenway is currently under private ownership, making the project even more complex. The Commission estimates that $16 million in funding will be necessary to complete the project within the next five years.
This year, Valley Forward, an organization founded to bring action to initiatives that improve the quality of life in the Roanoke Valley, will host the first annual Gallop 4 the Greenways. The organization conceived the 5k race as a way to raise awareness of the greenway project and raise money for its completion. All of the funds raised will be donated to Pathfinders for Greenways, who are the primary stewards of the project. Valley Forward identified the Greenways as a key initiative because of the potential impact of the completed project on the quality of life in the region.
You may ask how a simple trail running through the city will have an impact on our quality of life? Is it really such a big deal to walk from one end of the valley to the other? A lot of people probably asked the same questions of Benton MacKaye when he proposed a trail from Georgia to Maine. However, for those who have since taken the opportunity to hike the Appalachian Trail, the benefits are obvious. The ideas that run through your mind when you are walking through nature often provide clarity. MacKaye defined these thoughts as the “oxygen that makes for sensible optimism.”
If our beloved valley is going to reach its full potential, sensible optimism will be essential. Far too often the opposite force holds us back. Uninformed pessimism is the enemy of progress. A simple shift in perspective that comes with a walk through nature can be the difference between a positive outlook and a negative one. Certainly, a path through our city won’t be a panacea for all of our economic and cultural shortcomings. It will, however, give us a way to make the most of our increasingly rare leisure time. It will, as Benton MacKaye said, give us “the poise that goes with understanding.”
The valley that runs between the Appalachian Trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway holds more potential than its residents claim. Perhaps a walk through that valley is all we need to see our future in a different light. The volunteers who have given so many hours to build the Greenways to this point certainly share a sensible optimism. Imagine what it must have felt like to join the trails that completed the Appalachian Trail. We can share in that same feeling when we complete the trail that joins our municipalities and connects the two historic greenways that define our valley.
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