Bike Walk Greenville is partnering with the City of Greenville to have a large display counter installed on the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail. We successfully raised $27,000 to purchase the Eco Display Classic + Double sided unit, and the City of Greenville will install and maintain the unit on the SRT just north of Unity Park at Willard Street. Counts of both people on bikes and people on foot will be displayed daily and year to date.
Dr. Julian Reed of Furman University did a study of trail use back in 2013 and 501,236 trail users were publicized as part of the year 3 impact study. We look forward to counting the actual users in 2022 onwards. We suspect the count will be much higher!
Having real metrics of trail users will help in attracting additional public and private support for our trail network.
The fundraising campaign was successfully completed in late June when Prisma Health pledged a significant level of support. The City staff did the the design of the unit.
The Installation was completed on February 1, 2022, an the City issued this press release on February 2, 2022
WYFF News 4 Coverage on February 6, 2022
GREENVILLE, S.C. —
A new feature along the Swamp Rabbit Trail is counting how many bikers, runners and walkers are using the popular trail.
Crews installed a display counter along the trail off Willard Street in Greenville, just north of Unity Park.
The idea came back in early 2021 from Bike Walk Greenville, a nonprofit that advocates for safe infrastructure for people on foot and on bikes.
Executive Director Frank Mansbach said its purpose will be to get a sense of how many people are using the trail and see how best the trail can be featured and utilized for years to come.
He said the most recent count came from a Furman professor in 2013, who estimated more than 500,000 people used the trail that year.
“We all know that the trail is hugely popular,” said Mansbach. “There’s been a boom in recreational use in (and) transportation use. So, we want real data that’s going to help the economic engine of the Swamp Rabbit Trail do even more.”
The City produced this video about the SRT and released it on social media on Friday March 4, 2022. It includes some comments from our Executive Director about the benefits of the counter: