Harrisonburg's Northend Greenway officially opens

The Northend Greenway in Harrisonburg is officially open for pedestrians.

On Wednesday, city officials and community members held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the project's completion.

Mike Parks, the Director of Communications for the City of Harrisonburg, said that the opening of the greenway was a big step toward connecting pedestrians in the northern part of the city to the downtown business area.

"We're excited to get this open today, be able to connect some of those neighborhoods and just give people another option to just go outside and enjoy the outdoors here in Harrisonburg," said Parks.

The project took nine years to complete and came to fruition primarily through a push by people in the community.

The $1.2 million path is .6 of a mile long. The money to fund it was raised by people in the community — some was allotted by city council and a matching grant helped to round out the funds.

A Black's Run stream restoration project is also going on in the area, so once it is all finished, the area will be similar to a new park.

"It's going to be well used. It's already in use. We're hoping that more people are aware that it's here in the next coming days and they come out and take advantage of it," said Parks.

The Northend Greenway is a safe space for people to walk, run, bike or stroll with well-marked crosswalks and signals.

Harrisonburg city leaders said they hope to continue efforts on projects like this one.