Future Riverwalk Greenway route remains uncertain
Waterside alignment appears unlikely for signature project
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
February 12, 2021
The original plan for the second phase of the Riverwalk Greenway would have taken bikers and pedestrians under East State Street through a culvert near the intersection with Flat Creek Road. With that alignment appearing unlikely, the Town of Black Mountain is exploring options that could include enhancements to this crosswalk as part of the project. Photo by Fred McCormick
The alignment of a central section of the Town of Black Mountain Greenway System, which once completed will also serve as a key connector in the 100-mile Fonta Flora Trail that will eventually connect Morganton to Asheville, remains uncertain, following the Feb. 8 board of aldermen meeting.
Town officials learned in an October 2020 workshop that the original plan for the second phase of the Riverwalk Greenway, which called for a winding 1.5-mile path along local waterways, converging at Riverwalk Park behind the former Bi Lo building, was in jeopardy due to flood plain regulations. On Monday night, a representative from the engineering firm designing the project told the board that option continues to appear unlikely.
Fred Grogan, of Michael Baker International, is the engineer of record for the design for the section of trail that will allow pedestrians and cyclists traveling on the Flat Creek Trail, Village Way Spur or existing sidewalks on the north side of town to safely access The Oaks Trail and network of paths in Veterans Park. The $6 million project, 80% of which is funded by federal grants with the town assuming responsibility for the remaining 20%, is a “signature project opportunity filled with challenges,” Grogan told the board.
The complications center around the need to build a bridge crossing the Swannanoa River behind property on the eastern end of Center Avenue. Building the structure within a floodway requires a No-Rise Certification through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“Any time you’re on river corridors like this and dealing with hydrology and structures it’s quite a challenge,” Grogan said. “We recognized that going in.”
Federally funded projects typically involve a review triggering hydrology and structural studies around the 60% completion mark of the design process, according to Grogan, but the initial path planned for the trail caused engineers to begin analyzing those aspects early.
“The project was going to go under U.S. 70 and then go under N.C. 9,” he said. “For about five years, before we were engaged in this project, (the N.C. Department of Transportation) continuously denied that underpass at N.C. 9.”
Designers working on the second phase of the Riverwalk Greenway were unable to meet the environmental requirements to build a bridge over this section of the Swannanoa River. The Town of Black Mountain is now exploring routes that would use existing infrastructure along roads. Photo by Fred McCormick
While engineers completed a successful crossing in the existing culvert along the Swannanoa River, just north of I-40, they realized a No-Rise solution could not be achieved with the addition of bridges to cross the waterway near the Center Avenue area.
“We were getting, in a five-year storm, about 3 inches of rise on one structure in that area,” Grogan said. “DOT would not allow that for liability reasons. It would be imperceivable to have a 3-inch rise in a 10-year storm, but because we can’t model that, they couldn’t allow it.”
Without a feasible option for crossing the river in the floodway, the solution will likely result in a drastically different design than what was originally proposed.
“The Riverwalk project being an off-road, multi-use path was the vision, but what we’re looking at now may not be that experience we were hoping for, from the user’s perspective,” Grogan said. “It would be an on-road combination of shared roads using stenciling on the road for bikes and sidewalks.”
The overall objective of the project would be to connect the existing trails safely, according to the engineer who presented two alternatives currently under consideration. One option would be to access Scotland Street by way of the current pedestrian crossing near Black Mountain Primary School. The route would move west along Center Avenue and connect to South Ridgeway Avenue and continue to Sutton Avenue.
The second option would utilize the existing sidewalks along East State Street to access Richardson Boulevard to connect to Sutton.
The design of an on-road route for Phase II of the Riverwalk Greenway would potentially eliminate the need to construct a trail through one of the culverts under N.C. 9 where it crosses the Swannanoa River. Photo by Fred McCormick
Pursuing either on-road option could expedite the beginning of the construction process by eliminating the need for a significant portion of the original proposed alignment.
“Any time you have a (State Transportation Improvement Program) project, the process is very slow,” he said. “With DOT’s buy-in, and the town’s approval, we could take out a piece of this project that has been held up by that STIP.”
Pivoting to an on-road design would also likely reduce the cost associated with the project, according to Grogan, who added that crossing N.C. 9 by way of the culvert may not be necessary under the designs being considered.
“What we’re looking at and considering right now is looking at Vance Avenue, in front of the old Bi Lo, and making that intersection safer to cross,” he said. “Then we could continue down Vance.”
Doug Hay asked Grogan what the town would gain by utilizing the existing infrastructure to connect the trail systems.
“The intersection at U.S. 70 and Black Mountain Primary would be enhanced with flashing beacons and crosswalks, and the existing sidewalk would be used while the roads would have sharrows marking the bike lane,” he responded.
The inability to follow the off-road route originally envisioned left Pam King, who served on the greenway commission prior to being elected to the board, “enormously disappointed.”
“That’s not a criticism of anyone, because I know people have been working on this for years,” she said. “If it’s going to be the centerpiece of the Fonta Flora Trail, and the Hellbender Trail, people don’t go to a community to hike or bike to use sidewalks in the middle of town.”
To access a map of the current and proposed trails in the Black Mountain Greenway system, visit this link.