DUNLAP, Tenn. - Crews are working on a boardwalk and pedestrian bridge that cross Dunlap's Coops Creek as a second phase of the town's pedestrian greenway heads for a spring completion date.
Almost a decade in the making, the greenway has paved segments between Rankin Avenue next to the Sonic drive-in and the Sequatchie County Courthouse square. A boardwalk over one marshy drainage area is finished except for handrails, while two bridges are still to be built, Dunlap Mayor Dwain Land said.
Last week crews with Charleston, Tenn.-based Caldwell Paving were clearing small trees from the north side of the creek, where a bridge crosses. The segment is funded with $250,000 in grant money, with city crews doing in-kind work as appropriate, Land said.
"They're winding up the phase along Coops Creek that's going to connect people to [Harris] Park downtown and to the Sonic," he said.
Once that phase is finished, crews will start back the other way on the west side of Rankin Avenue at the Coops Creek Bridge. The third phase will follow the creek to Griffith Elementary School, creating a pedestrian path for schoolchildren as well.
"I believe more children will walk and bike to school once the next phase is completed," Land said. "They'll be able to walk or bike all the way after the next section is built."
He said he rode a bicycle to school until he got his driver's license.
The completed trail will be about five miles long.
Safety was what got Dunlap resident Dan Shell excited about the idea in 2007, when he first pitched it to city officials.
The struggling economy forced the project to the back burner, but it heated up again in 2009 with a $104,000 grant from the Tennessee Department of Transportation. That included a $26,000 local match. Officials say $250,000 in grant funding has been given for the project so far.
"I think it's fantastic," said Shell, who has visited the project site frequently since crews first started cutting brush.
"It's going to be a great thing for our community in providing some walking space away from the automobile traffic," he said.
Carol Gaddy, who has lived on Coops Creek for 18 years in one of the town's oldest homes, has been at odds - legally and otherwise - with city officials over ongoing development she says forces more and more water onto her property.
"I love Coops Creek. It used to be a very beautiful creek," she said. She said erosion has affected wildlife in and around the creek.
Gaddy didn't allow access to her property, so the walkway will veer over the creek near her property line. She said she'd rather the city had instead built curbs and sidewalks along Main Street to help foot traffic.
"But they wanted a greenway for tourists, I think. And I understand that," Gaddy said, adding that she's "still up in the air" on the value of the walkway.
Shell said the route the path ended up taking around Gaddy's property is actually a better way to travel toward the courthouse.
"It was a better solution, and it'll land the bridge on a little park area," Shell said.
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or twitter.com/BenBenton or www.facebook.com/ben.benton1 or 423-757-6569.