Bright blades of new grass poked up through fresh straw Friday morning at a greenway dedication ceremony at Salem's Rotary Park.

It's a good sign the seeds are finally taking root, said Mark McClain of the Salem Greenway Commission. A solid root mat could bind the soil and curb some of the flooding problems the trail saw over the winter.

This latest portion of the Roanoke River Greenway, dubbed Phase II-A and budgeted at $470,000, has at times during its eight-month construction period seemed at direct odds with the elements -- a November flood tore up 300 feet of trail, and high waters in January and March caused still more damage.

"Nature was tough on us during construction, but we certainly lucked out today," Assistant City Manager Jay Taliaferro said of the morning's sunny conditions. The ribbon-cutting drew an audience of about 100 people, including Salem Mayor Randy Foley, Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, and state Sen. Ralph Smith, R-Botetourt County.

The new stretch of greenway, which runs about a mile along West Riverside Drive, almost to the South Colorado Street bridge, is part of a series of trails that uses land along the Roanoke River in Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem that might not ordinarily have a purpose.

Greenways coordinator Liz Belcher told the crowd the river is "what ties our communities together."

She said the entire project should be finished by 2012.

"We've probably got three miles left to do -- a portion going east to Roanoke city and a portion going west to Roanoke County." City Engineer Chuck Van Allman said of Salem's impending greenways.

"In a year or so, we're looking at being able to go from here [Rotary Park] all the way to Mill Lane," McClain said.

Today from 10 a.m. until noon Salem workers, along with Trout Unlimited, Orvis, Environmental Services & Consulting and the Virginia Department of Forestry, will meet at Riverside Park on West Riverside Drive to plant trees they hope will stabilize a section of the riverbank and prevent erosion.