The county had applied for a $100,000 grant for the trail, which officials hoped would help provide safe walking conditions and a recreational area. The request was denied Wednesday by the S.C. Department of Parks Recreation and Tourism.

PRT did approve $100,000 for the city of Rock Hill to build a Waterford Park trail to the industrial park.

Marshall Johnson, PRT recreation assistant manager, said the South Pointe Trail was primarily denied because of its proposed use for transportation to school and because it lies along S.C. Department of Transportation right of way.

"That being stated in the application [that the trail would provide safe walking conditions for students) led everyone to believe it was a transportation plan rather than a recreation project," Johnson said. "You can't preclude transportation and recreation being one and the same, but since it is on DOT right of way, the DOT is not in the business of maintaining recreation trails."

The proposed 10-foot-wide asphalt trail along Neely Road would have become the first leg of the York County Greenway trail system linked with Rock Hill's trails in the county master plan.

Perilous trek to school

The students' trek to South Pointe has been controversial since before the new high school opened with freshmen and sophomores last fall. This year, a junior year class joins them and varsity football will be played at the school's stadium, drawing larger crowds.

College Downs students have trudged to school through dense woods and negotiated sloping, flood-prone shoulders along drainage ditches along Neely, a narrow, curving secondary road with poor visibility.

A lack of school buses exacerbated the problem. Because of growth, the school district this year discontinued "courtesy" bus service to students who live within one-and-a-half miles of the school they attend and where walking conditions have been deemed hazardous. The state does not pay to transport students who live within one-and-a-half miles of their school.

Buses were running double and triple routes last fall when the schools attempted to transport those students, delivering many late in the morning and home in the afternoon.

In what some officials have described as the best collaborative effort among local government agencies in recent years, each pledged money to the project. The county pledged $20,000 in matching funds for the PRT grant, and Rock Hill and the Rock Hill school district pledged $25,000 each. County Council members Curwood Chappell and Roy Blake committed about $92,500 in their discretionary gasoline tax money.

Staying on track

On Thursday, Assistant York County Manager Anna Wilson said the county will continue to hold the funds Chappell and Blake set aside for the project.

"Staff will be studying all other grant and partnering options prior to the next council meeting June 5," she said. "We look forward to collaboration. We hope the other partners will continue with their commitment so we can make this project become a reality."

John Hair, school district associate superintendent of finance and business, said "I think something possibly could be resurrected out of a joint effort, even a community effort."

PRT had 28 requests for $3 million in the grants this year, Johnson said, and had $920,000 to award. Of that, 30 percent is designated for single use that is not motorized, 30 percent for motorized trails for ATVs and dirt bikes and 40 percent for more than one use.