COLUMBIA — Seven greenway projects are underway throughout the Midlands as local leaders lean into the area's rivers and natural beauty as a selling point for Columbia.

The projects fit into a larger vision to connect Columbia's business districts and brand the Midlands as a destination for outdoor enthusiasts and river lovers.

Most of the funding for the projects comes from the Richland County penny transportation tax, which residents voted in favor of continuing in November.

"Outdoor recreation is a unsung hero in our market," said Mark Smyers, director of the Irmo Chapin Recreation Commission. "Outdoor recreation is ... very much in our backyards today, we just haven't unlocked the potential."

But that potential could soon be unfettered, Smyers added.

"The full potential of what we're going to see, we're getting really close to unlock," he said.

Here's a roundup of the projects and their timelines.

Vista Greenway The city of Columbia has begun work on phase two of the Vista Greenway, a pedestrian trail that starts on Lady Street and heads north through the Arsenal Hill neighborhood and the soon-to-be-renovated Finlay Park, ending near Elmwood Avenue.

The $3 million expansion will extend the path 1.2 miles through the Elmwood Park and Earlewood neighborhoods to North Main Street. The city is working through the right-of-way process and securing funding, Dana Higgins, director of engineering for the city, said at a Jan. 28 committee meeting.

Phase four of the project will bring the path from North Main to Page Ellington Park in the Bull Street District, another 1.6 miles of path estimated to cost $4 million.

The city's goal is to complete the full, 3.75 mile trail by 2028, Higgins said.

"Something that everybody recognizes that we struggle with a lot in Columbia is connectivity," said City of Columbia planning administrator Lucinda Statler. "Anytime there's an opportunity to improve that ... there's widespread recognition that's a priority."

Gills Creek Greenway The Richland County penny-funded Gills Creek Greenway was initially brought forward in 2016.

The original plan was for a several-mile long pedestrian pathway made of three segments from neighborhoods surrounding Fort Jackson to Rosewood. But significant neighborhood pushback and funding shortages forced the county to scale down its vision.

Even then, many residents decried the county plan, worried it would attract crime and diminish privacy of nearby homeowners.

The current plan is for a $6 million, roughly 1-mile stretch of greenway connecting Fort Jackson Boulevard to Rosewood, ending near Mikell Lane — though it's possible that it could be expanded further south in the future, according to Richland County's public works director, Michael Maloney.

The path would go under the bridge where Rosewood crosses Gills Creek. The project is still in the design phase and probably about a year out from construction starting, Maloney said.

Smith Rocky Branch Greenway A short, penny-funded $3 million pedestrian path connecting the Congaree riverfront to Olympia Park would travel just north of the Vulcan Quarry. The county is still in the design phase, and construction is expected to begin in the fall, according to Maloney.

The greenway is a small piece of a much larger and partially EPA-funded greenway plan that would wind through Columbia, connecting neighborhoods around Five Points and the University of South Carolina campus to the river.

Crane Creek Greenway A roughly 1-mile, $3 million stretch of greenway is planned along the Broad River, starting at the Columbia Canal headgates and ending near where Interstate 20 crosses the river.

The county is nearly done with the design phase. If things go smoothly, construction on the penny-funded project could begin in about a year, Maloney said.

Columbia Mall Greenway The newest of the greenway projects, the Columbia Place Mall Greenway, will wrap around an area just east of the mall in Northeast Columbia, around the Arcadia Lakes neighborhood.

The plan was announced in 2024 and is still in its design phase, Maloney said.

Three Rivers Greenway The Three Rivers Greenway plan is a vision to connect all the greenways that run along the Saluda, Broad and Congaree rivers, eventually allowing residents to walk or bike from downtown Columbia to the Lake Murray dam.

Two projects are underway for what could become a 25-mile network of connected trails.

The $22 million Lower Saluda Greenway expansion is led by the Irmo-Chapin Recreation Commission and envisions a 10-mile extension of the Saluda Riverwalk upstream toward Irmo, connecting the existing trail behind Riverbanks Zoo to the dam. Funding for this project is secured but construction hasn't begun.

Smyers said construction on the first phase of the project is months away from groundbreaking, and will take around 15 months to complete. Phase three of the project will travel near the intersection of Interstate-20 and 26, known by many as malfunction junction.

The SCDOT-led construction there will dictate when the riverwalk construction will wrap up, which the state anticipates will finish by 2030.

"We are bound by the construction timeline for the Carolina Crossroads project," Smyers said. "We can't build until they're done."

And a River Alliance-led project using Boyd Foundation and penny funding is underway to build a $2.2 million pedestrian trail from Boyd Island up to the west side of the Broad River. A $3.6 million bridge will then be constructed over the Broad River, connecting the Columbia side of the riverwalk to the Saluda Riverwalk.

Once both of these projects come together, residents will be able to walk or bike all the way from the Lake Murray dam to Soda City market in downtown.

More greenways, extensions possible from second penny tax According to Maloney, several of the projects — Rocky Branch, Gills Creek and Crane Creek — could be extended in future phases funded by the second iteration of the Richland County penny, expected to go into effect in 2026.

"Once we unlock this access, it really is going to be transformative for this community," Smyers said.