A multi-use paved trail system connecting communities along the path of the former historic Mountain Goat Railroad has two ongoing construction projects to continue building what will be one of the longest paved trail systems in the area when completed.
The 10-foot-wide asphalt trail eventually will link seven towns in Grundy and Franklin counties. The latest projects will connect Tracy City Elementary School to the downtown area and beyond.
"The Mountain Goat Railroad was historic and was the economic driver for this area," Mountain Goat Trail Alliance Executive Director Patrick Dean said. "We see the Mountain Goat Trail as the new economic driver, as the new way of connecting all these communities that haven't been connected since the 1980s [when the railroad was abandoned]."
The section from downtown to the elementary school is one of the most anticipated legs of the project and was scheduled to begin last fall but was delayed because of weather.
Tracy City received a $604,000 grant for the project. The trail system is being built through partnerships, grants and some public funding, with the vast majority of the trail being funded through grants.
The delay means construction will overlap with the next phase of the trail, which will pick up from the elementary school and go toward Monteagle. Groundbreaking for the project is scheduled for April 10 at 3:45 p.m. CST at the elementary school.
When completed, the entire trail system will be 37 miles, connecting Palmer, Gruetli-Laager, Coalmont, Tracy City, Monteagle, Sewanee and Cowan.
Currently, 4.6 miles of the trail is finished, connecting Sewanee to Monteagle. That section will not immediately fully connect to the two ongoing projects. However, the two ongoing projects will connect to one another. That's because the alliance is completing the sections as they are able to.
"We're constantly juggling and trying to do what we can as we can," Dean said. "We never fully know [what's next]. It's not necessarily linear."
The alliance has committed to completing the entire trail system in the next 10 years, Dean said.
In the meantime, area residents have taken to utilizing the trail system as it is built.
The trail is part of an initiative called Rails-to-Trails. The project is repurposing old railroad corridors to create a nationwide network of trails. That aspect of the local trail struck a chord with some area residents.
"What I love about it is the romance in the fact that there were trains that traversed this. That means a lot to me," Keith Childress said during a recent walk on the trail with his wife, Regina. "We're part of the railroad museum in Cowan. We're part of that, so personally, I have this romance with the rails. To walk on the same site as the tracks is important to me."
The designer of the most recent section works with Knoxville-based Robert G. Campbell & Associates engineering firm but grew up in the area.
"For me, this is really a career topper," Lawson Bordley said. "I grew up in Sewanee. The mountain is my home. I live in Knoxville now, but to build a trail that's going to be used and the economic impact this is going to have on the community is rare."
Contact staff writer Mark Pace at mpace@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @themarkpace and on Facebook at ChattanoogaOutdoorsTFP.