Page 21 - Sept/Oct 2018 Vol 36 No 3

COLLEGEDALE By Shannon Carey
Growth Spurs Greenway Projects

The City of Collegedale, just outside This aerial view shows the new parking lot bordering Apison Pike and the new walking path connecting the
Chattanooga, is one of the fastest-growing parking lot to Wolftever Creek Greenway and Veterans Memorial Park (upper left).
areas in Tennessee, said the City’s Director
of Public Works Eric Sines. walkway pavement will be coated in around the site with 10-foot gaps between
green like a tennis court to blend into the sections of wall.
That kind of growth is a blessing for a landscape.
municipality, but it also means growing “The wall provides seating and also
infrastructure to accommodate the “We’re an active community,” said Sines. breaks apart the large field and separates
increase in population. For Collegedale, “We have grants for events and goals for it from the actual memorial park,” said
one area seeing extra use is the City’s activeness. A large portion of the people Sines. “We sometimes have large events
Wolftever Creek Greenway. Collegedale who use our greenway actually use it like our Independence Day celebration
residents are using the greenway for for biking or jogging. This is going to in that field, and having that wall will
recreation and daily transportation, help those people because this location separate the two fields.”
including employees at nearby McKee should have a likelihood of having spaces
Foods, which employs 2,300 people and is available.” Cost for the combined parking lot
doing a walk-to-work initiative. and Veterans Memorial Park projects
Sines said he hopes to have the parking is $300,000. Sines said to stay tuned for
A greenway extension will soon connect lot open in October. Challenges include more projects. The City of Collegedale has
the greenway directly with McKee Foods, how to handle stormwater runoff from $4 million budgeted for capital projects
and the company is installing a one-mile the site, but Sines said the City’s engineer this year, including a $2 million sewer
loop of sidewalk around its facility. specializes in stormwater, so the City will project, a $200,000 roundabout, and a
handle that planning in-house. $300,000 culvert at Prospect Church
“We’re transitioning into being a very Road.
pedestrian-friendly city,” said Sines. “We’re working very closely with the
“We attribute the greenway traffic to state. The parking lot is bordering one of Those projects, plus the City/nonprofit
growth. We’ve seen an increase in traffic, the state routes, so we’re working with partnership with Collegedale Tomorrow
pedestrians, commercial and residential them for approval and hopefully tying Foundation for the Collegedale Commons
development and restaurants.” into their stormwater structure,” said community space, are all reflections of
Sines. quality growth in Collegedale. Sines said
The problem for Wolftever Creek Collegedale Commons is adding more
Greenway is parking. Currently, the Along with the parking lot project, parking soon, which will also tie into
only parking available for the greenway Collegedale is also making improvements Wolftever Creek Greenway.
is near City Hall and the very popular to Veterans Memorial Park. Right now,
Imagination Station playground, which the park includes granite memorials and “We’re really making a lot of strides
the city redid two or three years ago a bronze statue commemorating Army for being a walkable, very involved
to make inclusive of children with medics. The City will add a 2.5-foot wall community,” he said.
disabilities. That parking fills up fast, as do
the 50 spaces at Tucker Road Pavilion.

In addition, Veterans Memorial Park,
also located along Wolftever Creek
Greenway, needs dedicated parking to
help residents access the park easily.

“Parking very much needs to happen,”
said Sines. “A lot of people use the
greenway. It connects to a large retirement
facility. A lot of families with young kids
come and play at (Imagination Station).”

So, Collegedale Public Works broke
ground in August 2018, on a new dual-
purpose parking lot serving the greenway
and Veterans Memorial Park. The lot will
include 25 regular and two handicapped
parking spots, and a 12-foot-wide multi-
use, paved path will connect the parking
lot with the greenway.

The parking lot will include shade trees
and landscaping per the City’s landscaping
ordinance. In addition, since the adjoining
property is dedicated green space, the

View online at tnpublicworks.com 21