Staff photo by John Rawlston/Chattanooga Times Free Press – Rick Wood, director of the Chattanooga office of the Trust for Public Land, hopes his organization can help facilitate using former rail lines along Anderson Avenue in Highland Park as a combination walkway and linear park. The little-travelled road that runs from Holtzclaw Avenue to Ridgeside is wider than normal because of a long-closed rail line.Anderson Avenue in Highland Park is a chance for Chattanooga to save a green corridor in the midst of the city, a local preservationist says.
Before Anderson was a city street, a railroad ran along it. It’s wider than most roads, almost 80 feet across.
Rick Wood, executive director of the Trust for Public Land, says the extra width is just right for a walking and biking trail alongside the street.
“There are opportunities in urban areas to look at rail corridors,” he said. “We believe the city has some opportunity.”
As Chattanooga becomes more urban, available land for public use becomes more scarce, Wood said. But there still is land out there that can be turned into public usage — walking trails, parks and natural areas, officials said.