Photos by Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

A dam in the Roanoke River will be removed during a flood control project. The Army Corps of Engineers hopes the dam removal will open more of the river to the endangered Roanoke logperch.

The site of an old trailer park is currently under construction to become a park with a network of trails that will be part of the greenway.

Hamilton Terrace Southeast near Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital would be reconfigured by the plan.

The continuous greenway that will run across the city of Roanoke continues to take shape.

The city council got its first glimpse Monday of the most recent additions that will come to the Roanoke River Greenway over the next year, including the use of money obtained from a company as part of an environmental settlement.

They include the linking of two greenway portions that both end near Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital; the construction of a half-mile walking loop on the former Hannah Court Mobile Home Park; and the removal of a dam and construction of a pedestrian bridge across the river at the upstream end of Wasena Park.

Once completed, the projects should leave the greenway unbroken for a five-mile stretch from Memorial Bridge to the Western Virginia Water Authority wastewater treatment plant in Southeast Roanoke.

The city plans to run the greenway farther west and has proposed tentative routes that go nearly to Bridge Street, near Shaffers Crossing. When finished, the greenway will run about 10 miles from one side of Roanoke to the other.

Much of the Roanoke River Greenway has been built with federal funds that have come courtesy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' $64.3 million flood-reduction project.

Here's a closer look at what's planned:

n Currently, the river greenway runs from Wasena Park and ends with a newly constructed bridge on the eastern end of River's Edge Park. But Luke Pugh, a city engineer, said the city plans a connecting portion that will run from the bridge, beneath a pedestrian bridge from a nearby parking garage and along Hamilton Terrace Southeast to another existing greenway. A portion of Hamilton Terrace road will have to be moved slightly to make room for the greenway, Pugh said. The city's share of the project is about $300,000, with plans for the work to begin in July.

n Farther upstream, the city is planning a greenway-based park for the 15-acre Midvale Avenue tract. The property, once home to families who lived in the 67 homes of the Hannah Court Mobile Home Park, was purchased by the city in 2006 for $1.8 million. The Army Corps is placing a bench cut on the property as part of its flood-reduction project. Soil from that cut will be pushed up the bank, creating a plateau.

Novozymes Biologicals will spend at least $250,000 on a parking lot and half-mile walking trail for the site. The contribution comes as part of a deal reached when the company pleaded guilty to two incidents of violating the Clean Water Act in 2004 and 2005.

n Just to the east, the Army Corps is working in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove Wasena dam, a concrete-encased sewer pipe that crosses the river between the Midvale Avenue tract and Wasena Park. The agencies are banking that the dam removal will open up new portions of the river to the endangered Roanoke logperch. The Army Corps is designing a bridge to cross the river near the dam. The city's share of the bridge and greenways to connect the Novozymes walking trail with it is about $500,000.

Pugh said the Army Corps hopes to put the bridge out to bid by late spring.

U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, told the council during a later meeting Monday that with a tight economy there could be delays in obtaining money for the greenway's future stretch between Memorial Bridge and Bridge Street. He said he's been negotiating for the city to lay a greenway along a portion of the railroad tracks not currently being used, but there are complications there as well.