A huge advocacy success 8 years in the making
On March 15, 2023 we were pleased to announce that the long awaited traffic signal at SC-253 intersection with the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail will soon become reality. There was great excitement from the trail user community and significant media coverage. We have documented this 8 year saga at this blog post.
Unity Park Trail Counter
Bike Walk Greenville partnered 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. Prisma Health provided significant funding along with 25 other donors. The City of Greenville installed and will 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.
Having real metrics of trail users will help in attracting additional public and private support for our trail network.
701,755 trail users were counted in the first year ending on January 31, 2023, an average of 1,923 per day.
Dangerous By Design Advocacy
Bike Walk Greenville continues to collaborate with DOT and GPATS (our local regional planning body) to increase safety in some of the most deadly and underfunded areas of Greenville, as identified by this national report by Smart Growth America.
In this blog post, our 2021 Furman intern discusses the impact of car-centric design on the White Horse Road community, and what we can do to advocate on behalf of our most at-risk community members.
Public Art at the Lakeview Link
Bike Walk Greenville commissioned artist Charles Pate Jr. to create this bronze statue of a girl on her strider bike. The granite base was fabricated by Kyle Gillespie, and the metal base was built by Ryan Calloway.
Bike Walk Greenville donated the statue to Greenville County and oversaw the landscaping design to include a bench, bike parking, and information kiosk for trail users.
Community Walk Audits
Bike Walk Greenville is proud to partner with other local organizations and nonprofits to lead community walk audits, which highlight the significant impact that street design on various aspects of our community.
We encourage interested community members to apply for the Upstate Forever Citizen Planning Academy, or reach out to us directly regarding a walk audit options for your neighborhood.
Our first advocacy effort 2013-14
When we formed our non-profit in 2013, our Board agreed that advocating for safe routes to schools is an obvious need in our County. We partnered with other non-profits to fund the preparation of the Greenville County Safe Routes to School, Recreation and Work Plan, that was adopted by County Council.
In 2014 County Council agreed to have a sales tax referendum that was primarily to fix our roads, that included 84 sidewalk projects from this plan. Unfortunately the voters of overwelhmingly defeated the referendum on eection day.
There has been discussion of a 2024 sales tax referendum, and we are advocating for these long needed sidewalks to be included. Only three counties in South Carolina do not have this local sales tax.
Traveler’s Rest Display Counter
On Saturday March 18, 2023 we joined members of Travelers Rest City Council to celebrate the installation of the new display counter. From idea to completition this project took only 11 months. The fundraising was completed in October, 2022 and included sponsorship by Prisma Health and 30 indiviual donors
The first month’s data shows significant count differences from the counter in Greenville, with a higher percentage of people on bikes than recorded at Unity Park in Greenville.
Traveler’s Rest Diagonal Crossing
Back in March of 2016, Bike Walk Greenville volunteers counted 1,613 people on foot and on bikes crossing the intersection of US-276 of the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail. In subsequent meetings with SCDOT, we advocated for a safe diagonal crossing where a push button would stop motor vehicles in all directions. With DOT approval of the proposal, the City of Travelers Rest allocated funding for construction and with permits in place the project is advertised for bids as of summer 2022.
Hiring of City Mobility Manager
In 2019, following three years of advocacy with the City of Greenville, Bike Walk Greenville was successful in the creation of the position of City Mobility Coordinator, resulting the hiring of Calin Owens. We consider this to be one of the most significant advocacy wins in our organization’s history. Calin has already played an instrumental role in moving the City of Greenville forward with safe and vital infrastructure improvements.
StreetLight Data License
A generous donation to our non-profit allowed us to purchase StreetLight Data, a big data product that can track billions of data points each month including anonymous cell phone data from people on foot and on bikes.
We have done several studies in 2023 that you may finding interesting:
White Horse Road StreetLight Data
Lakeview Link
In 2018, Bike Walk Greenville raised funds to build the Lakeview Link, a trail connection measuring 4/10 of a mile, as a Public Private Partnership with Greenville County.
This new trail created a safe walking and biking environment for 575 students at Lakeview Middle and the surrounding community along the Old Buncombe Road corridor. Students, as well as Sans Souci and Berea neighborhood residents, would benefit from the safety improvements, further encouraging active and sustainable transportation options.
Voter Engagement
Local Elections have a tremendous impact on the priorities of local government to make or delay much needed improvements in our local infrastructure. Bike Walk Greenville regularly engages the slate of candidates running in local elections with interview questions to inform voters of where candidates stand on issues such as road safety, infrastructure solutions, and funding sources for improvements.
As a 501c3, Bike Walk Greenville does not endorse or promote specific political candidates.
Protected Bike Lane Demonstration
In May 2016 we successfully collaborated with the City of Greenville to introduce the first demonstration of a protected bike lane in South Carolina. Three hours of work by 13 volunteers transformed one block of East Broad Street in the heart of downtown Greenville to show our transportation future, which was met with enthusiastic public support.
We continue to work with the City of Greenville to improve and expand on the use of this type of protected cycling infrastructure.
Bike Walk Greenville 