The South Carolina Department of Transportation is asking the public to weigh in on a proposed shared-use path along Bryson and Bryson Heights drives in Greenville County, a segment that would run directly alongside Bryson Elementary School and stitch together a long-sought trail link between Simpsonville and Fountain Inn. Public comments are being accepted through October 31, with project details and a submission portal posted online.
The proposed path, first detailed in reporting by the Greenville Journal, would sit adjacent to Bryson Elementary School and connect the two Golden Strip cities. According to the project timeline, SCDOT expects to acquire rights-of-way in spring 2027, with construction slated to begin in spring 2028 and run roughly eight months.
A Years-Long Push Rooted in School Pickup Gridlock
The Bryson Drive segment did not emerge in a vacuum. Upstate Greenways and Trails Alliance Executive Director Matt Flege proposed the extension after personally experiencing severe school pickup traffic congestion at Bryson Elementary, according to the Post and Courier. The group's goal, per that report, was to give hundreds of surrounding households a safe walking and biking alternative to driving.
That rationale is backed by hard funding numbers. Official records from the Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study show the Upstate Greenways and Trails Alliance was awarded $1,127,441.60 in Transportation Alternatives Program funding in 2024 for a 0.9-mile trail section, with the funded segment connecting five residential neighborhoods directly to Bryson Elementary School, per GPATS records.
Linking Fountain Inn's Golden Strip to Simpsonville's Amphitheater
The Bryson Drive path is one piece of a larger two-city puzzle. The Upstate Greenways and Trails Alliance is partnering on a planned extension to link Fountain Inn directly to Simpsonville's Heritage Park and its 15,000-seat CCNB Amphitheatre, the Post and Courier reported, calling it the first direct multi-use trail connection between two cities in Greenville County since Greenville and Travelers Rest were linked in 2009.
Fountain Inn has already broken ground on adjacent infrastructure. In February, the city held a ceremonial groundbreaking for a planned two-mile paved shared-use path extending its southern Golden Strip section toward Simpsonville, according to the City of Fountain Inn. That path is designed to connect residential developments directly to Fountain Inn High School, Bryson Elementary School, and Heritage Park, the city says.
New Subdivisions Banking on Trail Access
Residential growth along the corridor has leaned heavily on the promise of trail access. Property filings submitted to Greenville County in 2021 revealed plans for Mulberry Estates, a 53-acre development along Bryson Drive featuring 163 single-family homes and 20 townhomes, according to the Post and Courier. Homebuilder DRB Homes has since marketed the subdivision around its planned direct in-community access to the Swamp Rabbit Trail network.
Part of a Growing Countywide Network
The Bryson Drive segment would ultimately feed into a much larger system. Greenville County Parks, Recreation & Tourism reports that the overall Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail system uses color-coded trail corridors similar to municipal transit lines to organize routes, according to TrailLink.
That network traces back to 1999, when the Greenville County Council formed a public corporation to purchase the abandoned roadbed of the former Greenville and Northern Railway, a line locally nicknamed the “Swamp Rabbit” after the indigenous swamp rabbit, according to Wikipedia.
A Piece of a Broader Trail Network
Bryson Drive is one part of broader efforts to expand the Swamp Rabbit Trail network.
For now, the immediate decision point is local: SCDOT is collecting public comments on the Bryson Drive segment through October 31, with project information and a comment portal available at projectportal.scdot.gov/brysondrsup.
