Imagine a future in which commuter biking is as easy as driving your car. 🚴

The North Shore Greenway — a 14.4 mile, 10-year project — has been a topic of conversation since 2015. The vision? A multi-phase greenway that would connect Renaissance Park to Red Bank without vehicle traffic + tunnels. The North Shore commercial area would connect to Hixson without the S-curves. Later phases would support a connection from Signal Mountain to Moccasin Bend and beyond.

Now, local organizers are in the public input phase. They are encouraging residents to take a survey (about five minutes) to provide their thoughts on the project. Public meetings will follow with a full report thereafter.

This project is one of several ongoing additions to Chattanooga’s Riverwalk trail system. Both the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway + a project that extends the Riverwalk into St. Elmo are close to complete. The National Park Service is also seeking public input about connecting a 21-mile stretch from Cloudland Canyon to Chattanooga.

The proposed phases of the project. (Image: North Shore Greenway)

The projects (10-20 year timeline)

Project 1 — Stringers Ridge to White Oak

Project 2 — Manufacturers Road Greenway

Project 3 — Cherokee Boulevard Cycle Track

Project 4 — Hixson Pike to North River Soccer Fields Greenway

Project 5 — Bike/walk Boulevard connection through Red Bank

Project 6 — The Lupton Rail-with-trail Greenway

Project 7 — North River Soccer Fields to North Chickamauga Greenway

Project 8 — Pineville Road to Portland Park Greenway

Background

Jim Johnson applied and received a Causeway grant in 2015 to allow Rails to Trails Conservancy to study the potential for a greenway. The organization seeks to “preserve unused rail corridors by transforming them into rail trails.”

They found that “conditions are favorable for rail-with-trail development and present a promising opportunity in an area currently underserved by trails and greenways.”

Read the full report here.

A conceptual plan — including design elements, cost, obstacles + routes — is in draft form.

Poll

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