Firm hired to guide greenway growth

Another step has been taken toward the extension of the Granite City Greenway in Mount Airy.

This occurred with the recent approval of a services agreement with a Winston-Salem firm, Pilot View Resource Conservation and Development Inc.

The agreement was approved in a 5-0 vote by the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners during its last meeting in late June.

City officials have said the expansion of the greenway network northward toward J.J. Jones Intermediate School on Riverside Drive is a logical move, including connecting that campus to the trail as are others in town.

The greenway presently ends in the Technology Lane area near SouthData Inc., where it was extended from Riverside Park in 2023.

It spans about eight miles that nearly loop the city, with the expansion effort now under way calling for the addition of about another mile and a quarter.

When the services agreement between the municipality and Pilot View recently was approved, City Manager Darren Lewis mentioned that the firm has worked with Mount Airy for years on greenway development.

Its upcoming scope of work will include various facets of the project to develop an expansion of the 10-foot-wide asphalt trail to further accommodate walkers, bicyclists and joggers.

As has been the case with past involvement by Pilot View Resource Conservation and Development, its input will be multi-faceted.

Along with designing the layout of the greenway, the firm will be focused on stream restoration of the Ararat River that runs along the trail route.

Areas at the site exhibit unstable stream banks and gullies that are adversely affecting water quality and the aquatic habitat there.

City government documents state that the primary goal is stabilizing eroding waterways at locations where high sediment levels are entering the watershed basin.

Coupled with the recreational aspect of the trail and the stream restoration will be another natural resources benefit, improved fishing and delayed harvest benefits that will increase tourism.

The cost of Pilot View Resource Conservation and Development’s services for planning and oversight relating to the greenway extension will be 10 percent of the total project cost.

No cost has been given for the greenway expansion, for which Mount Airy received a $4 million grant awarded through state emergency and disaster response reserve funds administered by the N.C. Department of Public Safety.

The city manager has said it will take about two years for the project to reach fruition.