News

Brevard announces it has funding to finish Ecusta Trail

By Lightning Reports, Published: October 3, 2026

By late 2029, bicyclists will be able to pedal the full 19 miles of the Ecusta Trail, pushing off from Hendersonville to Brevard, or riding eastbound from Brevard.

The city of Brevard announced on Sept. 30 that based on current cost estimates, the city officially has the necessary money to build the final eight miles of the trail. The news came from Brevard City Manager Wilson Hooper and representatives from NCDOT and McAdams, the engineering firm hired to design the trail.

Having reached the 65% design mark, the design team was able to apply NCDOT’s cost-estimation formula to project a total construction cost of $26.2 million. That amount will cover the creation of eight miles of 12-foot-wide paved trail with thermoplastic markings, signalized road crossings, concrete-decked bridges, new or improved drainage infrastructure, roadside guardrails, retaining walls, barriers, fencing, screening landscaping, half-mile markers, and two covered bench areas, the city said. Left unfunded are new restroom facilities or additional parking lots.

“Now that we know where we stand financially,” Hooper Ecusta Trail Advisory Board members, “we may be able to start talking about a strategy to include these facilities, but if we do, that strategy should be executed after the trail project is bid.”

The Transylvania County segment of the trail received a major boost in 2023 when the city received a $24.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Program. Other local groups—including the Transylvania County Tourism Development Authority, Friends of the Ecusta Trail, and Conserving Carolina—and individual donors have also provided crucial financial assistance, collectively pledging millions of dollars to the creation of the trail.

“I’m proud of the collaboration with our many partners that brought us to where we are today,” Brevard Mayor Maureen Copelof said. “This is one of the most important projects the city of Brevard has undertaken and when complete it will truly be transformative for our community.” The City also received additional grant funding in 2022 from the Federal Lands Access Program and in 2025 from North Carolina’s State Capital and Infrastructure Fund. 

“This is a momentous day for Brevard and all of Transylvania County,” said City Councilman Aaron Baker, who also serves as co-chair of the Ecusta Trail Advisory Board. “Our neighbors in Henderson County are already enjoying the economic, social, cultural and health benefits of the first six miles of the Ecusta Trail completed in 2025. On our end of the future trail, we’ve been working diligently behind the scenes and patiently waiting to learn whether our funding would cover the entire cost of construction. Now, there is no doubt. The Ecusta Trail is coming to Brevard.”

Construction will likely start in late summer or early fall of 2027 and take approximately 18 to 24 months. Once complete, the 19-mile rail-trail will connect Brevard, Etowah, Horse Shoe, Laurel Park and Hendersonville via a safe, multimodal path through the French Broad River valley.