Work on another half-mile section of the Roanoke River Greenway is set to begin in June and will take about a year to complete.
Roanoke officials recently obtained an easement from Norfolk Southern Railway to allow the greenway to pass through the railroad’s materials yard on the north side of the river upstream from the Norwich neighborhood.
The city will pay $100,000 for the permanent access to the railroad land, said City Engineer Phil Schirmer.
The deal comes just in time for the city to make use of $3 million in Virginia Department of Transportation funding for the project. The money would be lost if it wasn’t committed to the project by May, Schirmer said.
