Gov. Don Sundquist was in Collegedale on Tuesday morning to award the city a grant worth $597,270, courtesy of the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
The grant is to fund the construction of Wolftever Creek Greenway's Phases
3, 4 and 5. Phase 3 will take the greenway to the Nature Nook Park on
Tallant Road, Phase 4 will take it to Landrum Drive and Barrington Country
Circle, and Phase 5 will start on High Street and link to Phase 2.
The grant was made available through the federal Transportation Equity Act
for the 21st century, Gov. Sundquist said. The state's budget woes that have hindered it this year do not affect this kind of grant, he said.
"This is one of the few funds I have the final OK on," the governor said.
"This is a good investment."
This was one of two stops the governor made in Hamilton County Tuesday, the other being at Tommie F. Brown Academy of Classical Studies to award a similar grant to another greenway project.
"We've created hundreds of miles
of greenways (in Tennessee)," Gov. Sundquist said. "If we continue, in 20 years we may have more bicycle trails than any other state in the country."
The Transportation Equity Act has allowed for $17 million in funds to spend on similar projects throughout the state, the governor said.
Gov. Sundquist praised the Collegedale community and Southern Adventist University, which will find itself connected to the greenway through this new construction. "Ideas like this shouldn't come from the state level, they ought to come from our communities and work their way down," he said.
Collegedale Mayor Tim Johnson said the grant will allow the greenway to expand beyond Phase 5. "I think it gives (the greenway) a lot of
credibility," Mr. Johnson said. "We're going to look for matching funds from the community. We'd like for it to go past McKee's, and past Silver Lane. This is years down the road, but it's something we'd like to see in the future."
Dr. Bert Coolidge, Collegedale's City Manager, wants to see the construction on the Phases 3-5 begin right away. "I would hope tomorrow," Dr. Coolidge said. "We've been waiting on this for months. I know that the governor was tied up in the budget mess, but like he said, it was never a case of 'Was there money?,' it was just a case of 'When will he get down here?'"