News

Trail committee homes in on opening, site of trailhead

Christopher Todd, Henderson County’s lead manager for the Ecusta Trail, makes a point during a meeting of the Rail Trail Advisory Committee last week.

By Bill Moss, Published: June 20, 2024

The advisers guiding the work on the Ecusta Trail learned the location of the Hendersonville trailhead, heard about progress on the paved-path amenities and got a look at a proposed logo that aims to unify the look along the entire 19-mile corridor.

Most important, they heard the answer — at least for now — to the question everyone is asking.

“We are looking at a Thanksgiving-Christmas timeline in order to have the first six miles open,” Christopher Todd, the Ecusta Trail’s tip of the spear for Henderson County government, told the Rail-Trail Advisory Committee last Wednesday.

While weather, supply chain issues and unforeseen hurdles could always push that back, the forecast would be welcome news to the bicyclists, walkers and stroller-pushers eager to enjoy the Hendersonville-to-Horse Shoe segment.

We now know, too — almost for certain — where the trail will start.

“We’ve been talking for a long time about where the trailhead would be,” Todd told RTAC members. “That’s significant for multiple reasons. One, we need to know where the beginning is, if you will, at least from an operational perspective. Two, the friends have some obligations they’ve committed to in placing naming and opportunities for higher donors at the trailhead. And we need some time to plan for that.”

Assuming the Tourism Development Authority OKs the idea, the Visitors Center on South Main Street will be the trailhead.

“I think the answer is going to be yes,” Todd said. “But in due respect to them, if that is something we want to do, I would ask this group to formally request them to consider that at their next meeting.”

The fresh work by contractors for the city to narrow South Main to two lanes, from five, and the addition of a 10-foot pedestrian-bicycle lane anticipated the trailhead location.

“I want to thank the city for their efforts,” Todd said. “They’ve gone through and done a repaving and striping effort on South Main in preparation for the roundabout and the trail coming in so there is already a pedestrian connection between where the trail would end at HonorAir Park and the Welcome Center.”

Advantages of the Welcome Center are that it’s currently being renovated to be more tourist friendly and it has restrooms, parking and information about attractions, restaurants, shops and lodging.

“As the trail has always been seen as an economic driver for the county,” Todd said, “the nice thing about the trailhead being at the Welcome Center is folks who use the Ecusta Trail can potentially learn about things going on in the entirety of the county and hopefully we get longer stays, more heads in beds and have a bigger impact.”

Among the ideas is a mural on the back of the Welcome Center stage that designates that area as the start of the trail.

‘Unified look to the trail’

Committee members also heard from Hunter Marks, the landscape architect working as a subcontractor for the designers of the trail in both Henderson and Transylvania counties, and got their first look at signage.

“Hopefully, we would have one design palette that would extend all the way the entire 19 miles that everybody would agree upon and be comfortable with and have a unified look to the trail,” he said.

All parties are not there yet. The proposed branding still needs to be approved by the Brevard City Council and that city’s Ecusta Trail Advisory Board.

Among the amenities in the works are rest stations, location markers, trash and recycling receptacles, bike racks, orientation markers and interpretive signage.

Marks’s design echoes Southern Railway’s mustard-yellow and forest-green colors and round shape. Rest stations also reflect the design of Southern Railway depots in Hendersonville, Saluda and Brevard, Marks said.

Todd urged committee members to move as quickly as possible to marshal an agreement on the branding.

“I will tell you that the longer it takes to make the decision at this stage, for the first six miles, the larger the gap is going to be between the day that the trail is paved and usable and that the amenities are in place,” he said.