(Aired Tues 1/06/26)
Last month, a groundbreaking was held in South Chattanooga to begin construction of the first phase of the Alton Park Connector.
Phase 1 of the trail project, due to be complete this summer, will link Broad St. and St. Elmo Avenue - funded by a grant from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, with matching funds from the City of Chattanooga.
The entire project, set to span more than two-and-a-half miles, will connect Alton Park, Clifton Hills and East Lake to the Riverwalk.
Construction of Phase 1 is moving forward despite the loss of a 20 million dollar EPA last year. Phase 3 of the project is supported by six-point-four million dollars from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Elected officials from Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly and city council members to Congressman Chuck Fleischmann as well as community stakeholders were on hand for last month’s groundbreaking.
At that time, I spoke with Noel Durant, Tennessee state director for the Trust for Public Land - and Maria Noel, a community leader in Alton Park.
_____
One piece of early support for the work now under way - and the vision that remains on the map - in South Chattanooga came from the Norfolk Southern Trail Activation Fund.
A few months before the groundbreaking, I spoke with Noel Durant of the Trust for Public Land - and Kristin Wong, director of the Norfolk Southern Foundation and Community Impact.
