Facing a July 31 deadline for a grant application, Bulloch County staff members will be talking to engineers about quickly adapting the S&S Greenway trail extension concept so that it no longer reaches into Brooklet.

But County Manager Tom Couch is not abandoning hope that trail can connect with Brooklet in some other way in the future, he indicated in a phone interview Wednesday.

Within Brooklet, the path provided by the long-abandoned Savannah & Statesboro Railway right of way would have followed West Lane Street past Brooklet Elementary School and along the yards of homes to the center of town.  But after hearing opposition from a significant number of residents, especially from the West Lane neighborhood, Brooklet City Council voted 4-1 last Friday to reject that pathway.

So for now, county officials expect to end the paved walking and cycling trail at Grimshaw Road, well outside Brooklet’s city limits and a mile or more short of the originally proposed “Brooklet Station” trailhead behind the John Wesley Center.

“Ideally it would be nice if we could figure out a solution about continuing it through or around Brooklet, and naturally you would want to take advantage of that 100-foot right of way that we have, to some extent,” Couch said. “I don’t know if it bows out and we do the ‘Brooklet Greenway Bypass’ or if there’s another way to bring it into town.”

He said he was speaking only for himself but would hate to abandon the idea of extending the trail past Grimshaw Road to involve Brooklet in some way.

“I would optimistically think there is an opportunity to revisit it somewhere down the road,” Couch said. “When that is I don’t know, but it seems there was enough enthusiasm, despite the vote, with the Brooklet leadership to try to maybe figure out another way in the future.”

Grimshaw for now

But now, the county staff and contracted engineers need to move forward with the idea that the project will end at Grimshaw Road in order to meet the grant application deadline for the right of way acquisition funding, said Assistant County Manager Cindy Steinmann. She has been working in the administration of this project for several years.

“Just being realistic, because this is a federal grant we have to finish out what we’re doing now, and even this is a few years away from being constructed,” Steinmann said. “So if we were to revisit it, it would likely be after this whole process.”

Couch, who was on the same phone call and deferred to Steinmann for project specifics, agreed. They also agreed that the Grimshaw Road trailhead seems the most logical place to end the trail extension for now but that they need to consult the contracted engineers, with the Marietta-based firm Heath & Lineback.

“That’s the most logical place because there’s access right there … but we’ll have to talk to the engineers to kind of study the feasibility of it and see if there are any drainage issues or anything in the area we need to address,” Steinmann  said.

The Grimshaw Road crossing was previously proposed as the location of a “park-let,” or rest stop for walkers and cyclists, with one restroom. An expanded trailhead facility with more restrooms and possibly parking may be considered for the trail to end there, Couch and Steinmann said.

Stages of funding

Bulloch County was previously awarded a $300,000 federal Transportation Alternative Program grant, in 2018, for the engineering and design stage of the work. The July 31 deadline is for a further TAP grant, for right of way acquisition and related expenses. The originally projected right of way cost was $813,000, but Steinmann said this may be inflated somewhat by federal requirements that will not necessarily apply to the project.

Actual TAP awards are often smaller than the full request. The Georgia Department of Transportation receives a lump sum from the federal government and then makes the awards to local governments on a competitive basis. So county officials will learn this fall how much is awarded for the S&S Greenway extension right of way.

Bulloch County already owns the 100-foot-wide Savannah & Statesboro Railway clearance. But right of way funding will be needed for drainage structures and for route deviations to avoid utility lines and poles, Steinmann said.

Under the previously proposed plan, county staff members expected very little of that right of way acquisition to occur within Brooklet.  So Brooklet’s decision may have some, but only a small effect on this stage of the grant, she said.

The cost of the county’s contract with Heath & Lineback, $747,671, is obviously more than the previous $300,000 grant. But the county also has $1.6 million in Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or T-SPLOST, revenue earmarked for the project.

Cost effects unknown

As originally proposed, the extension, considered Phase III of the long-term S&S Greenway project, had an estimated price tag $5.6 million from concept through construction. It would have extended the trail, currently 2.75 miles long, by about 4.5 miles. But stopping at Grimshaw Road subtracts somewhere around 1.0 to 1.5 miles.

For now, nobody knows the effect on the total project cost. Actual construction, expected to occur in 2024, would require a third stage of TAP grant funding, to be applied for later and partially matched with T-SPLOST money.

“We’re very confident as long as we can keep the ball rolling that we’ll get those construction funds, but if we become slack then it may put construction funds at risk, so it’s in our best interest to put in the appropriate amount of a request for right of way in this next round,” Couch said.