SPARTANBURG, S.C. — South Carolina’s legislature has set aside an additional $10 million for development of the Saluda Grade Rail Trail, the Spartanburg Post and Courier reports.
Lawmakers had already earmarked $5 million for the project before Norfolk Southern agreed to sell the dormant 31-mile, two-state rail route, once the steepest main line in the U.S., to the Saluda Grade Trail Conservancy [see “Norfolk Southern to sell Saluda Grade …,” Trains News Wire, March 16, 2023].
The sale process will require NS to go to the Surface Transportation Board to officially abandon the route, after which three nonprofit groups that negotiated the agreement will take ownership and begin the process of pulling up the track and building a trail. The sale is expected to be completed by 2025.
Laura Ringo, executive director of Play, Advocate, Live Well — one of the nonprofit groups — said an economic and feasibility study is planned to better determine the condition of the route, and that the groups will pursue federal funding for development. At least three public meetings are yet to be scheduled to discuss the project.
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