The first part of western North Carolina's Ecusta Trail, planned to link the towns of Hendersonville and Brevard by converting an old railroad into a walking and biking path, is set to begin construction this summer as the trail nears its design completion.
The 6-mi.-long section of trail will run west-northwest from South Main Street in downtown Hendersonville to U.S. Highway 64 in the small community of Horse Shoe, and represents about half of the Henderson County side of the pathway, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.
All three towns are located south of Asheville, the region's largest city.
At 90 percent designed, as of Jan. 24, the only thing left to do is get construction permits and incorporate anything the permitting agencies recommend into the final plans, Henderson County Engineer Marcus Jones told the newspaper.
"We've got a good, solid schedule, and we've been able to stick to it now," he said. "We've been right on track, and there's a lot of momentum behind this project in the community."
To plan the trail, Henderson County contracted with Vaughn & Melton, a Charlotte engineering consulting firm that recently released the 309-page design-phase document.
The building of the trail section, and the remaining Henderson County portion of the Ecusta Trail, are fully funded, even with the rising cost of construction. The monies came primarily through two block grants totaling over $15 million from the federal government but managed by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), according to Jones.
The grant dollars for the second half of the Henderson County side of the trail will not be released until 2026, he told the Asheville news source, so the county is trying to find other ways to get earlier funding.
"We'd love to be able to continue the next section as soon as we can after we get this one built, or [even] before, but worst-case scenario is we'll be able to do it in 2026," Jones said.
Funding also is coming from Conserving Carolina, a land trust conservation nonprofit that has been a central part of the trail's history. Last August, EcustaRails2Trails LLC, a subsidiary of Conserving Carolina, paid $7.7 million to purchase the rail corridor that will be converted into the Ecusta Trail.
"We're excited to see the trail quickly coming closer to reality and eager for the economic, health, and environmental benefits it will bring to our community," Conserving Carolina's Assistant Director for Programs Rebekah Robinson said in a Jan. 20 email to the Citizen-Times.
Lack of Money Has Slowed Brevard's Plans
The city of Brevard manages the western half of the trail, but progress has been slower on the Transylvania County side.
According to City Manager Wilson Hooper, Brevard received a $1 million Federal Land Access Program grant to fund the design and engineering of its half of the Ecusta Trail, but that money has yet to be distributed by the federal government, and he has no idea when the town will receive it.
"Apparently there's a whole bureaucratic process that has to be performed up in D.C. before the money is released," he wrote in an email to the newspaper.
NCDOT also will administering this grant, Hooper said, and the federal government has already chosen a firm, Traffic Planning and Design Inc., which has an office in Asheville, to start work once the money is handed out.
To hedge Brevard's bets, it is one of several grants to which the town has applied.
Brevard, a picturesque mountain town known for its world-famous summer music festival, is anxious for financial help to connect the community to the Pisgah National Forest. As a result, the city applied to a Nationally Significant Federal Land and Tribal Projects grant, as well as reapplied for the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant, which it was denied last year.
"We got feedback from the feds after we weren't awarded the grant [during the] last cycle, and we're tweaking some of the features of the project [and our application] to reflect that feedback," Hooper said. "We think seeing a construction contractor chosen, and dirt turning in Henderson County in the months to come will help us maintain momentum here on the Transylvania County side of the line."
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