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GREENSBORO — The latest section of a biking and hiking trail to connect Greensboro began taking shape this week behind businesses along Battleground Avenue.

The one-mile stretch from Markland Avenue to Pisgah Church Road is expected to be complete no later than January, said Tyler Meyer, Greensboro’s manager of transportation planning.

Work began Monday on the $1.85 million Battleground Rail Trail.

The construction company has assigned three crews instead of the typical one, which means the work could be complete as early as November, Meyer said.

“We’ve been eagerly anticipating it for awhile,” said Dale Brown, a local bike enthusiast and president of Cycles de Oro.

The trail follows the bed of the old Atlantic & Yadkin Railroad

The A&Y, which had most of its track removed between Greensboro and Forsyth County in the 1970s, once linked Greensboro and Mount Airy.

The trail will become part of the growing regional trail system and will connect users to the Lake Brandt Greenway, the Bicentennial Greenway, and the planned Piedmont Greenway.

The Battleground Rail Trail also will link to such destinations as Jaycee Park, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, Bur-Mil Park, Summerfield and the watershed trails at lakes Brandt and Higgins.

A second phase will extend the southern portion of the trail to downtown Greensboro and eventually connect to other trails, such as the proposed Pine Cone Greenway, Green Valley Connector, Lake Daniel Greenway and the future Downtown Greenway.

Voters first gave their nod to the trail in 2000 when they passed a bond that included funding for the project.

Over the years, more federal funding has become available and now covers the majority of the project’s $1.85 million cost. About $370,000 comes from the city bond, Meyer said.

The trail has been delayed for various reasons, such as redesigning aspects of the plan and buying easements for property, Meyer said.

The trail will include a tunnel at Cone Boulevard.

“This is a complicated project and it took longer than the city would have liked to deliver,” Meyer said.

But it’s well worth the wait for such an important piece to Greensboro’s trail system, Brown said.

“It’s huge,” he said Wednesday. “I think everybody’s really going to enjoy it.”

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@news-record.com