Salisbury Urban Greenway Master Plan

Salisbury is a small city on Maryland’s Eastern Shore that is highlighted by a local university. The City wanted to establish an urban greenway master plan to encourage active transportation by residents and students. The greenway would feature a new, nine-mile recreational trail along the Wicomico River connecting popular destinations on an east-west alignment through the city. The master plan, developed by JMT under the direction of the City of Salisbury, included preferred alignments, facility types, phasing, temporary connections, right-of-way requirements, conceptual costs, grant funding opportunities, and regulatory requirements.

Alignments were selected based on an assessment of environmental impacts, costs, connectivity, and safety. Environmental features were inventoried and analyzed at a conceptual level to determine feasible avoidance and minimization techniques to reduce impacts and address permitting needs. Sensitive resources include Chesapeake Bay Critical Areas, tidal and non-tidal wetlands, floodplains, forest stands, the historic Pemberton Estate, the Downtown Salisbury Historic District, and numerous parks and schools along the waterfront. Property impacts were reduced as well, using public property to the maximum extent practicable while also providing waterfront access.

The completed urban greenway master plan will be used as the blueprint to implement the trail in phases based on funding availability.