A sign along a trail at the popular Point Park atop Lookout Mountain has faded, the sidewalk steps are beginning to crumble. Below, in the Chickamauga Battlefield, more repairs are needed, park supporters argue, as roads, bridges and restrooms age.
There’s nearly $50 million in deferred maintenance at the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, according to 2015 figures from the National Park Service. Several local park supporters led a trails tour Friday near Point Park on Lookout Mountain in Tennessee to highlight the deferred maintenance.
“When we talk about deferred maintenance, we’re talking about the backlog of roads, bridges, trails, bathrooms, and other facilities that make our national parks so enjoyable and accessible for the nearly 1 million people who visit Chattanooga and Chickamauga National Military Park,” said Tricia Mims, executive director of the National Park Partners, in a statement. “The last major spending by Congress was over 60 years ago. It’s time for another era of reinvestment.”
Mims, former Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield, and local trail advocate and president of the North Chickamauga Creek Conservancy Taft Sibley urged the local community to support legislation by U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., that would address the $11.6 billion backlog nationwide.
Deferred maintenance is defined by the park service as repairs that were not performed as scheduled or as needed and were put off to a future date – usually because of funding shortages.