Greenville County Council approved a $4.8 million extension of the Reedy River Trail on Monday evening, authorizing a 2.7-mile paved connector that will run from the current Swamp Rabbit Trail terminus in the Overbrook neighborhood south through Sans Souci to a new trailhead at Fork Shoals Road.
The project, which received state greenway funds covering 60 percent of the cost, is expected to break ground in the fourth quarter of this year and open by late 2027.
“This closes a gap that people have been asking about for years,” said County Councilmember [Name], who championed the funding application. “Sans Souci is a neighborhood that hasn’t had easy access to the trail system. That changes with this project.”
Route and Features
The extension will follow the Reedy River corridor as closely as terrain allows, with a separated ten-foot-wide paved path designed to accommodate cyclists, pedestrians, and families with strollers. Three pedestrian bridges are included in the design, two crossing minor tributaries and one over a former rail spur.
The Sans Souci section of the route passes through a stretch of mature hardwood bottomland that engineers say will require minimal clearing — one of the factors that kept costs lower than early estimates.
A trailhead with parking for 40 vehicles, restrooms, and a bike repair station is planned at the Fork Shoals Road terminus.
“When I look at what the trail network has done for property values, health outcomes, and economic activity in the areas it touches, I don’t see this as spending — I see it as investing.” — County Councilmember [Name]
Connection to Broader Network
The Swamp Rabbit Trail, which runs roughly 22 miles from Travelers Rest to Greenville, is among the most-used urban greenways in South Carolina, drawing an estimated half-million users per year. The Reedy River Trail extension is designed to eventually link south to Simpsonville as part of a long-range county greenway plan.
Residents in Sans Souci, a working-class neighborhood that has seen modest investment relative to neighborhoods closer to downtown, have expressed cautious optimism. Some community members raised concerns at a prior input meeting about trail-driven gentrification displacing longtime homeowners.
County staff said those concerns are part of an ongoing equity review that will inform signage, programming, and any ancillary development decisions along the route.
What’s Next
Final engineering and right-of-way acquisition are scheduled for completion by August. A groundbreaking ceremony is planned for fall. Public input sessions on trailhead design will be held in late spring — dates to be announced through the county parks website.