Saluda Grade Trail Inman

The Saluda Grade train corridor, pictured here in Inman, will likely be sold for more than $30 million to the Saluda Grade Trail Conservancy, which plans to transform the corridor into a 31.5-mile rail trail that runs between North and South Carolina. 

SPARTANBURG — If all goes to plan, the Saluda Grade Trails Conservancy will buy 31.5 miles of Norfolk Southern railroad for $31.5 million by the end of July, paving the way for the construction of the Saluda Grade rail trail, funded in part by the sale of train track steel.

The cost of the purchase is split between the states of North and South Carolina, with each allocating about $15 million, said conservancy founder and chair Glenn Hillard.

“The money is being held until we make the final decision that we’re going to close the deal,” Hilliard said. “The contract is for that price unless something comes up differently. When we close, that money will be transferred to Norfolk Southern.”

The conservancy, made up of Spartanburg PAL, Upstate Forever and Conserving Carolina, announced last summer it was under contract to buy Norfolk Southern’s Saluda Grade corridor, which is also split almost evenly between the two Carolinas — the N.C. side is a half-mile longer.

But first, it has to do due diligence, which involves surveys, title work and an environmental assessment.

“We’re doing a survey of the corridor so we know exactly what we’re buying, where the property lines are, the acreage of the corridor and how wide it is,” said Laura Ringo, the executive director of Spartanburg PAL. “We want to make sure we’re really clear on where our property line is gonna be.”

As part of the due diligence work, the conservancy is also hiring consultants to come up with an economic development plan with a focus on tourism marketing, and work on community engagement to keep the public involved in the trail building process, Ringo said.

All of that work is funded by $1 million, which comes from grants, $300,000 from the state of North Carolina and $225,000 in federal dollars secured by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Design and engineering

Once the group has secured the corridor, the design and construction work will begin. The final cost of designing and building the trail is still undetermined.

The conservancy has $6 million in federal funds that could help pay for design and construction work, and it plans to sell the steel railroad tracks, which could also help fund construction.

The group has been working with Norfolk Southern to identify potential buyers for the steel, Hilliard said. But the price depends on a lot of market factors. Some of the rails could be sold to other railroads, and some may be melted down.

The total haul could be anywhere from several hundred thousand dollars to a few million.

“We don’t have any bids or answers specifically for how much it’s going to be right now,” Hilliard said. “It’s too early to say, really. It’s not going to be mammoth.”

The federal dollars and track sale won’t cover the full construction. The price will vary depending on the type of trail. And the type of trail could depend on its location within the corridor.

A cost analysis estimated that the smallest and cheapest trail to construct would be an 8- or 12-foot-wide asphalt or concrete trail with a 3-foot shoulder, at about $1.1 million per mile. The most expensive trail would be a 14-foot asphalt trail with a retaining wall at $5.5 million per mile.

That doesn’t include the eight bridges, which are all salvageable but need work. Nor does it include the 47 street crossings.

Because the cost of building the trail at once is prohibitive, the conservancy plans to spend years building it in phases, prioritized by which sections can be paid for first.

“The way we prioritize will definitely be dependent on funding,” Ringo said. “I think because the scale is significant, we’re gonna have to have lots of different sources to make this a reality.”

Economic impact

Once complete, the trail from Inman, S.C. to Zirconia, N.C. promises to boost the economies of the communities along its path the same way that other rail trails have done in other places in the Southeast, including several in North Carolina.

An economic analysis conducted by a team of Clemson professors last year concluded that building the trail over several years would create around 250 jobs.

The analysis also estimated that by 2037, the trail would bring in an extra $11 million in annual visitor spending to the counties that host the trail, as well as an increase in property values.

Those estimates are mirrored by data from an N.C. State study of four different shared-use trails in North Carolina, which generated almost $20 million annually in sales revenue from businesses along the greenways.

“I think this project’s gonna be transformative,” Ringo said. “It’s gonna bring new business and visitors to communities along the corridor. Businesses are going to grow. It will highlight how beautiful the Upstate of South Carolina is and pass over creeks and some really beautiful natural areas.”

Follow Christian Boschult on Twitter at @ChrisHBoschult or contact him at 864-665-1706.