Editorial
Front Page - Friday, October 8, 2010
Greenway provides safe, scenic way for locals to enjoy Collegedale
Erica Tuggle
At the Wolftever Creek Greenway many components make up the scenic four-mile walking path that allows residents, students and visitors to traverse across Collegedale without facing traffic. Part of the greenway is the Nature Nook that includes an amphitheater for student or community use.
- Erica Tuggle
Over four miles of winding trails that feature planters overflowing with wildflowers, a bench shaped like a butterfly and numerous fountains are only some of the features along the walkway known as the Wolftever Creek Greenway in Collegedale, Tenn.
The idea for the greenway began small in 1999 as a way to allow students from the Southern Adventist University to get to the other end of town without having to drive or worry about being in traffic while walking. Rodney Keeton, the director of Public Works for the City of Collegedale for 27 years, says the idea was simply for a sidewalk, but as one thing led to another the greenway grew and still has plans to become even larger.
The greenway was initially funded through alternative transportation funds, and then the local parks and recreation grants and local donations. Phase I of the greenway runs from the Imagination Station playground behind city hall, underneath Apison Pike, intersecting Wolftever creek and to the pond on Ooltewah-Ringgold road. Phase II goes over the Ooltewah Ringgold Road bridge and turns east on the other side of Wolftever Creek to Spalding Drive. Phase III continues from Spalding Drive across Tucker Road to the Nature Nook located at Tallant Road and Apison Pike where several features merit a visit to this part of the greenway.
In this area, there is the Nature Nook where residents can utilize the gazebo or amphitheater that is sometimes used for university classes. Next to the Nature Nook, is the greenway’s latest addition: the Collegedale Dog Park. Here at the east end of the greenway, the off-lease dog park allows for pets to enjoy an open space filled with toys and socialize with other dogs while owners enjoy the serenity and amenities of the nearby greenway.
Keeton says, “It’s well used. I have seen people walk dogs on the greenway, but they can’t really get out and run. At least this gives them a place where they can stretch their legs. I like the idea of having a place where the dogs have their own area off the greenway.”
Also in this area, behind the Tucker Road Recreational complex, there is a quaint seating area with an interesting history.
When Massengill Tire was built on Little Debbie Parkway, the residents who had formerly sat there on the tailgates of their pickup trucks and whittled as the trains passed, no longer had a place for this activity. Commissioner Hullander approached Keeton and asked him if he could help. Now there is a spot by the tracks on the greenway where a train light and two metal benches cut into the design of a train sit for the whittling residents or any others that like to watch the regular trains that pass by.
Along the greenway, there is also a bench in the shape of a butterfly; old wagon wheels, bicycles and plows made into planters; birdfeeders; fountains in the ponds; and at the old mill site there is a remodeled wagon.
If you are a nature lover, there are more than enough flowers to keep you busy, says Keeton with the budget for flowers for, the greenway at $17,000 a year. Citizens donate to this fund sometimes, as well as with objects they believe would be good side attractions for the path.
Another well known stop along the greenway is the Veterans Park where the Arts in the Park Festival, movie in the park, fireworks and several East Hamilton Symphony and Orchestra performances are held, Keeton says.
Today, the greenway is a little over four miles, Keeton says, but plans to expand it even further are in the works. Due to railroad construction, Phase IV and V have been skipped over, but when they resume Phase IV will be the Robinson Farm connection that goes along the railroad and Phase V will run from Apison Pike to the Landrem subdivision. Phase VI, that travels from city hall to the Greenbriar cove retirement community, has already been completed and is well used by the residents of that area, Keeton says.
One piece of the greenway goes all the way to the University property and dead ends, but in time there are plans that this will be connected to the trails within the University, he says. With the five-lane highway coming through Collegedale, they would also like to connect the greenway to McKee’s employee recreation center: the MERC.
Anyone can take the full tour of the greenway from home any time, says Keeton, through the YouTube video under the search, “Collegedale Greenway.”
For more information on the greenway visit http://www.collegedaletn.gov/content/dept_serv/parks_rec. For more information on the Collegedale Dog Park visit www.collegedaledogpark.com.
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