Piedmont Greenway Master Plan - Town of Kernersville

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Piedmont Greenway System Concept
The vision for our Piedmont Greenway is of families walking with their children, bicyclists enjoying a
sunny afternoon ride to Winston-Salem and back to Greensboro, the local high school's cross country team
practicing, retired couples strolling, joggers running, birdwatchers catching a glimpse of a migrating warbler,
kids spying their first glimpse of a deer on their way to school - all enjoying the outdoors on a maintained trail
without worrying about traffic.
To achieve this vision a technical Master Plan has to be created to include the interests of the local
citizens and municipalities. These interests address community needs, which are incorporated into a guiding
document.
The proposed Piedmont Greenway should be viewed as a recreational, physical fitness, and alternative
transportation resource incorporating multiple uses including environmental education, better floodplain management,
enhancing wildlife habitat, and improving water quality.
Recommendations for this multi-objective greenway are based largely on input from the general public,
local businesses, civic and community organizations and public agencies. At the beginning of the planning
process, a number of potential greenway corridors were identified through a meeting with staff members from
the cities and counties. The greenway corridor alternative map was evaluated and presented at meetings with
interested individuals and at two public workshops. Comments received from these meetings and workshops
were incorporated into the Master Plan recommendations for the greenway system.
Proposed greenway corridors are located along natural and man-made linear corridors and generally follow
roadways, ridge tops and waterways within the study limits. This means greenways will fulfill objectives
related to alternative transportation, natural resource conservation and water quality and floodplain management
in addition to their function as recreational resources. Corridors were also selected to ensure development
of a continuous greenway, centrally located and spanning the area from Salem Lake in Forsyth County
to Lake Higgins in Guilford County. The greenway is designed with the potential to extend into neighboring
jurisdictions when desired and funding becomes available.
The Master Planning Process
The Piedmont Land Conservancy (PLC) commissioned Greenways Incorporated, of Durham, NC, to
assist the communities of Forsyth and Guilford counties in preparing this Master Plan. The planning process
consisted of several primary tasks. First, viable site evaluations were undertaken in Forsyth and Guilford
Counties for potential Piedmont Greenway corridors. Representatives of city departments, local
agencies, nonprofit organizations and interested citizens provided focused feedback and input
throughout the planning process. The formation of goals and objectives came next, crafted from
comments received from staff meetings and citizen participation in two community workshops.
Preliminary recommendations were then developed and presented to participants for review. Recommendations
were implemented into the document by PLC and city and county staff and submitted
by Greenways, Inc. for final review. The last step of the planning process was the presentation
of the final plan to PLC.
Recommendations
The Piedmont Greenway in Forsyth and
Guilford counties is envisioned as a project with
several objectives. The greenway corridor is
designed to include improved floodplain management,
protect wildlife habitat, enhance water
quality, provide for passive recreation, encourage
environmental and cultural education, promote
personal fitness, accommodate alternative
transportation and offer recreational resources.
The proposed Piedmont Greenway corridor
is approximately eighteen miles in length, and
is located along natural and man-made linear
corridors which generally follow roadways, ridge tops and waterways within the study limits. The
corridors have been selected to ensure development of a continuous system of on- and off-road
greenway system flowing through North, South, East, West and Central Forsyth and Guilford
Counties, with the potential to extend into neighboring jurisdictions.
Five regions are proposed as sites of the primary Piedmont Greenway System: (please refer to
Figure 2, page 27):
• Salem Lake
• Residential Kernersville
• Downtown Kernersville
• Residential Greensboro
• Lakes Segment
PIEDMONT GREENWAY
Final Master Plan Report 1