The West Ashley Greenway Has Three Closures Right Now, and They Won't End at the Same Time

Ask anyone who runs the Greenway before work and they'll tell you it's "closed for construction." Ask which stretch and most people shrug. That vague answer is the actual story. The Greenway isn't dealing with one project this fall. It's dealing with three, in three different places, on three different clocks, and only one of them is anywhere close to finishing.

If you're planning a Saturday ride or trying to figure out whether your usual loop from South Windermere out toward the marsh still works, the difference matters more than a single "trail closed" headline suggests.

The Middle Closure: Windermere Drainage Work

The section most walkers are actually hitting right now sits between Campbell Drive and Wesley Drive. The City of Charleston closed that stretch starting Wednesday, June 17, 2026, to complete drainage infrastructure improvements and utility relocations aimed at reducing flooding in the Windermere neighborhood. The city's own schedule laid out the sequence: active construction along Culbertson Drive and at the Culbertson/Chadwick intersection through the end of July, then work continuing eastward along the Greenway itself from August through the fall.

That "through fall" language is the piece worth sitting with. As of late September, this project is squarely inside its stated window, which means the closed footprint has likely been creeping east toward Wesley Drive rather than wrapping up. Anyone who assumed the June closure was a short detour has probably rerouted more than once already. The alternate routes the city posted alongside the closure notice are still the ones to follow if you're trying to string together a continuous walk.

This is a drainage project, not a trail redesign. Once the utility relocations are done, this stretch reopens looking basically like it always has. It's the shortest-lived of the three disruptions on this list.

The Western Rebuild: Main Road Segment A

Head to the opposite end of the trail and you're looking at something with a completely different scope and timeline. Main Road Segment A is a design-build project awarded to Archer-United-Banks Joint Venture in September 2024, with construction underway since early 2025 and substantial completion not expected until late 2028. It widens Main Road between Bees Ferry Road and River Road, adds a new interchange flyover where Main Road meets US 17, and builds a roundabout at Main Road and River and Chisolm Roads.

For Greenway users, the relevant piece is buried in the scope: the project adds a shared-use path across the Limehouse Bridge over the Stono River and extends the Greenway itself out to Bees Ferry Road. Construction on the CSX railroad bridge replacement, part of the same segment, begins in spring 2026. This is not a temporary detour you route around for a season. It's a multi-year build that will eventually stretch the trail farther west than it currently reaches, but not until closer to 2028.

Charleston Moves, the local nonprofit that tracks bike and pedestrian infrastructure across the region, keeps a running list of West Ashley priorities that includes this project alongside the Maryville Bikeway and a still-unbuilt Ashley River Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge, both of which residents have pushed for through a potential 2026 transportation sales tax referendum.

The Eastern Gateway: A Bridge to Downtown

The third project sits at the trail's eastern edge, where the Greenway meets the Ashley River. Back in 2019, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded Charleston an $18 million grant to build a pedestrian bridge across the river connecting West Ashley directly to downtown. That bridge is now under construction. It's designed to eventually link up with the Lowcountry Lowline, the planned rail-trail project on the peninsula side.

This one won't affect your weekday loop today. But it's the project that changes the character of the whole trail once it's finished, turning the Greenway from a West Ashley amenity into a car-free route straight into the historic peninsula. Worth knowing about now, even if the payoff is still a ways off.

Here's how the three line up side by side:

What Actually Works Right Now

If your usual route starts, as many do, behind the Starbucks in the South Windermere Shopping Center, you can still get out onto the trail and head either direction before you hit a barrier. The middle closure is the one most likely to interrupt an out-and-back walk this month, so check the posted detour map before committing to a long loop rather than discovering the barricade three miles in.

The far western end, past Parkdale Drive where the surface shifts from pavement to compacted gravel, is unaffected by any of this. That stretch still runs through the old agricultural fields and out to the causeway along the marsh and creek, a spot locals have long used for crabbing and fishing, with herons, egrets, and ospreys showing up regularly for anyone paying attention.

Somewhere to Land While You Wait

If the Windermere section has you cutting a walk short, Ackerman Park gives you a reason to end there instead of turning back. The West Ashley Farmers Market opened its 2026 season on April 1, its earliest start in the market's history, and runs every Wednesday from 3 to 7 p.m. through October 14, with a Thanksgiving Market on Sunday, November 22, from noon to 4 p.m., also at Ackerman Park. Vendors this season have included Oliver Freeman Farm, R & R Acres, The Urb Farm, Lowcountry Caviar, Hey Crow Bakery, Moonrise Loaf, Lowcountry Cannoli & Coffee, and Roti Rolls. Ackerman Park itself, at the corner of Sycamore Avenue and St. Andrews Boulevard, also has a fenced dog park and a skate park, so it's an easy add-on to a shortened trail day rather than a separate errand.

One More Thing Worth Watching

Bay Street Biergarten, currently operating out of the historic Wraggborough neighborhood downtown, announced on September 26 that it's expanding into West Ashley, with a target opening in spring 2027. Partner Greg Pierdon described the new location as carrying the same menu as the original, with elevated dining seating, a large indoor bar, and a covered patio. No opening date beyond "spring 2027" has been set yet, but it's the kind of addition that gives the South Windermere corridor another anchor for an evening out once the current construction season is behind it.

None of these three projects share a finish line. The drainage work should be the first to clear, likely by the time the weather turns cold. The road and bridge work at the western end runs years longer. The downtown connection is worth checking on periodically, since it changes what the Greenway is for once it opens. Knowing which closure you're looking at saves you a wasted trip and a longer walk back than you planned on.

If you've been watching the Windermere drainage work from your own front yard and you're curious what it might mean for water flow, resale interest, or long-term plans for a house near this corridor, Marie Pohlman walks this stretch of West Ashley regularly and is glad to talk through what she's seeing on the ground.