If you’ve driven along Berkeley Drive lately, you’ve probably noticed the construction. What’s being built there is much more than a wider sidewalk.

The City of Clemson is creating a 1.5-mile multi-use path between Frontage Road and Issaqueena Trail, along with a new public green space called Berkeley Orchard Park.

Together, the projects will create a safer walking and biking route, a new place to enjoy nature, and another important piece of Clemson’s growing network of connected parks and trails.

From a 4.5-Foot Sidewalk to a 10-Foot Trail

The most visible change will be along Berkeley Drive itself. The existing sidewalk is being widened from roughly 4.5 feet to 10 feet, creating enough space for people walking, running, biking, pushing strollers, and rolling to comfortably share the route.

The project also includes enhanced crosswalks, ADA improvements, drainage work, and improved parking at Ashley Dearing Park. Those details may sound small individually, but together they change how the corridor works.

Instead of simply providing a narrow sidewalk beside a busy road, Berkeley Drive will become a much more useful route connecting neighborhoods, Clemson Elementary, Clemson Park, Ashley Dearing Park, and other parts of the Green Crescent Trail network.

A New 4.36-Acre Park Along the Way

The trail will also lead to something completely new. At the corner of Berkeley Drive and Issaqueena Trail, the City is developing Berkeley Orchard Park, a roughly 4.36-acre property acquired in part with support from the South Carolina Conservation Bank.

The City’s vision goes beyond a traditional neighborhood park. Plans call for native plantings, decorative fruit trees, access to Rock Creek, reflection areas, benches, parking, and spaces designed for nature play and exploration. Construction documents also include details such as a water sensory play area, boulders, six benches, drinking-water features, and a pet fountain.

The City has described the broader vision as an urban oasis for wildlife and passive recreation, with an emphasis on preserving green space in a part of Clemson where development is increasingly dense. That may ultimately be one of the most interesting parts of the project. Berkeley Orchard won’t simply be somewhere the trail passes through. It will be a destination of its own.

Restoring Nature While Creating Access

There is also an environmental restoration component that is easy to miss if you only see the road construction. The City has already removed the house that previously sat on the property within the floodplain. The project also includes extensive native landscaping, improved water infrastructure, and natural gathering and reflection areas near Rock Creek.

City sustainability discussions have emphasized a more nature-based approach to managing the property, including reducing reliance on herbicides and fossil fuels. So this project is doing two things at once: creating better access for people while improving and preserving an important pocket of natural space.

Another Link in a Bigger Network

For Friends of the Green Crescent, that last piece is especially important.

This is a City of Clemson project, funded and constructed by the City. Our organization isn’t building it. But it illustrates exactly what a connected trail network can become when communities incorporate walking and biking infrastructure into larger park, road, and public-space projects.

The Berkeley Drive corridor will connect into existing portions of the Green Crescent Trail and help build toward a larger network vision linking Clemson’s city parks with Clemson University and, eventually, Nettles Park, Patrick Square, Pendleton, and Central.

Some of those connections already exist. Others still need easements, funding, design, or construction. But every completed link makes the entire system more useful. A trail becomes much more valuable when it takes you somewhere you actually want to go. And in this case, Clemson is creating both the route and a new destination.

That’s why what’s happening along Berkeley Drive is worth watching. It’s not simply a wider sidewalk.

It’s a new trail, a new park, safer crossings, restored green space, and another step toward a Clemson area where more of the places we use every day are connected on foot and by bike.

The City currently expects the project to be completed in early 2027, weather permitting.