If you ride the Swamp Rabbit Trail on any kind of regular schedule, you've probably noticed two things happening this year that seem unrelated. The chokepoint between Unity Park and Linky Stone Park, already the most congested stretch on the whole 28-mile network, is about to get wider. And the rules for how you're legally supposed to approach a stop sign on a bike changed in May.
Together, the 2026 trail updates show projects at different stages and along different kinds of routes. The segments getting funded and built run through parks, old rail beds, or industrial corridors. The North Main extension, which would have used residential streets, was scrapped in February; nearby residents had raised concerns about its impacts. Comparing the routes and current status of these projects offers useful context for following future trail proposals.
What's Actually Moving This Year
The Unity Park to Linky Stone Park widening is now moving through the approval process. The Greenville Planning Commission unanimously approved a stormwater variance for widening the trail between Unity Park and Linky Stone Park, sending the proposal to City Council for review this month. The redesign would split the current 11 to 13 foot path into two dedicated 8-foot lanes, one for cyclists and one for pedestrians, plus new lighting and a raised crosswalk where the trail crosses Westfield Street. It's the busiest section of the entire trail, and it sits entirely inside parkland and along the Reedy River corridor. The project also requires a stormwater variance because of the trail's proximity to the river.
Compare that to the Sans Souci segment west of downtown, where Greenville County secured a $20 million federal grant that survived a nationwide freeze on infrastructure funding. The money covers intersection safety improvements along the corridor between West Blue Ridge Drive and Sulphur Springs Road, a pedestrian bridge over the Reedy River, and up to a two-mile extension toward the future Union Bleachery redevelopment, a multi-billion dollar redevelopment of a once-contaminated textile site. This segment follows a rail corridor and river frontage.
The Verdae Boulevard pedestrian bridge is another project moving forward. Contractors installed the bridge frame in July as part of the Green Line extension, a project meant to eventually connect the trail toward Millennium Boulevard. It's a bridge over a boulevard, engineered around existing right-of-way.
Here's how the active projects line up when you sort them by what kind of ground they cross:
| Project | Route type | 2026 status |
|---|---|---|
| Unity Park to Linky Stone widening | Park and riverfront | Cleared Planning Commission, awaiting Council vote |
| Sans Souci segment | Rail corridor and riverfront | Fully funded, $20M grant secured |
| Verdae Boulevard bridge | Boulevard crossing | Bridge frame installed in July |
| Unity Park to West Greenville extension | Former rail line | Feasibility study proposed, not yet approved |
| North Main (Orange Line) extension | Residential streets | Scrapped in February |
The West Greenville proposal is also worth watching. City leaders laid out a route that would follow the old rail line from Willard Street to the Lois Avenue underpass, linking Unity Park to the Village of West Greenville. City officials have been careful to call it a proposal, not a guaranteed plan, and the next step is simply a feasibility study to determine whether the extension is workable. It's early. Its prospects will become clearer after the feasibility study.
The North Main Extension Proposal
The Orange Line extension along North Main Street offers a contrast to the projects moving forward. City officials scrapped that route in February after nearby residents raised concerns about impacts on driveways, trash collection, and the character of the neighborhood. The route would have served an upscale area of more than 5,000 residents. The proposed driveway crossings were among the concerns residents raised.
This year's projects span different route types, including parks, rail beds, riverfront, boulevards, and residential streets. They are also at different stages, from work underway to a feasibility study and a scrapped proposal.
The Same Year the Rules Changed
While the city was redesigning how the trail's busiest crossing works, the state was rewriting the rules for how cyclists are supposed to use it. Governor Henry McMaster signed the Stop-as-Yield bill, known as the Palmetto Stop, into law on May 18, making South Carolina the first state on the East Coast to fully adopt the policy. Under the new law, cyclists can treat a stop sign as a yield sign when it's safe to proceed, and at a red light they still have to come to a complete stop but can move through once they've determined the way is clear.
This isn't an abstract policy footnote for Swamp Rabbit Trail riders. The Westfield Street crossing, the exact intersection getting a raised crosswalk as part of the Unity Park to Linky Stone widening, is precisely the kind of trail-to-street crossing this law was written for. The physical redesign and the legal change are arriving in the same construction season, at the same location, for the same reason: that crossing sees more bike and pedestrian traffic than almost anywhere else on the network, and both the infrastructure and the rulebook are catching up to that fact at once.
Supporters of the law point to research showing most bicycle crashes happen at intersections, which is also where most of this year's trail construction money is being spent. Whether that overlap was intentional coordination between the city and the legislature is beside the point. For someone riding the trail into downtown Greenville this fall, it means the crossing you've navigated a certain way for years is about to work differently twice this year, once when the new stop-sign rule takes hold in daily habit and again when the raised crosswalk goes in.
What This Looks Like If You Ride It Every Week
Practically, expect construction activity around Unity Park and Linky Stone Park as the widening moves from Council review into an actual bid process, likely with temporary detours similar to the ones SCDOT has used before during bridge work near the trail. If your regular route runs through that corridor, plan for slower stretches near Westfield Street before the new lanes and crosswalk are finished.
Further west, Sans Souci riders should start seeing visible movement as the $20 million grant translates into construction, including the new pedestrian bridge over the Reedy River. The grant itself dates back to 2024, and having survived a funding freeze that stalled it for a stretch of that time means this is likely the year it stops being a line item and starts being a jobsite.
None of this changes what makes the trail worth using on any given afternoon. The Commons at Unity Park still has Methodical Coffee and the Bake Room for a pre-ride stop, Golden Brown & Delicious if you want something more substantial, and Greenville Bike & Tri right there in the plaza if you need a rental or a repair. Southernside Brewing Co. is still the obvious stop across the river from the Commons if you're capping off a longer ride. Linky Stone Park's Children's Garden is still about a mile down the trail if you've got kids in tow. Reedy Rides, downtown, still rents bikes and knows the current detour situation better than any app will.
This year's projects are at different stages, from construction activity to a proposed feasibility study and a scrapped extension. If you're following a proposed extension near you, its route and current status are useful details to watch alongside funding.
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This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
