SALEM, Va. – The City of Salem Community Development Department held a public meeting at City Hall Monday evening to get public input about its latest Roanoke River Greenway Project.
The meeting, which took place at 6 p.m., was before the scheduled City Council meeting.
The proposed project that was discussed concerned the completion of the section between Mill Lane and the West Riverside parking area. This section is considered the “missing piece” to complete the Greenway through Salem. Minor intersection improvements and beautification efforts at both Mill Lane and West Riverside Drive were discussed.
A concern for citizens at who showed up at the public meeting was safety, along with making sure they are kept in the loop about the project.
“I want to make sure that we know what the plans are for that section of the Greenway,” Salem resident Susan Lucas said. “It’s important that it gets finished so that it’s safe for - I ride bikes - and for walkers, and that we don’t have to cross major streets.”
Residents were also concerned about potential traffic that could come with the potential construction and the development of the area.
This is the final piece of a decades-long project that, once completed, will connect the greenway from one end of the county to another.
Officials like city engineer William Simpson says that this connection will also give citizens a dedicated path for their safety to travel from one place to another without needing a car.
“This portion, once it gets built, funded and built, would connect the Roanoke River Greenway all the way from Greenhill Park in Roanoke County all the way to Explorer Park in the other end of Roanoke County,” Simpson said.
To complete the final phase, the city is searching for federal grant funding to cover eighty percent of the project, with the other twenty percent matched at a local level.
While the city doesn’t have a final price tag yet, project leaders can apply for the grant as soon as they have an estimate.
“So we don’t know the exact price tag yet, but we are looking to put estimates together to go after the funding,” Simpson said. “As soon as we have all that, we’ll be able to make the final application for the grant.”
If grant money is approved, construction could begin in three years.