Oak Ridge residents Christopher Van Hook, right, and Zoe Van Hook, center, ride on the new Melton Lake Greenway IV after a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday. Behind them are their parents Jennifer and Mark Van Hook and Mark's co-worker, Pete Xiques.
Planned for years, a 2.4-mile extension of the Melton Lake Greenway in Oak Ridge is complete, and local and state officials celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday.
The new greenway allows pedestrians, bicyclists, and runners to travel from a new parking lot at Solway Park East to the Edgemoor Road bridge over the Clinch River near the Bull Run Fossil Plant.
Built with help from a $552,000 state grant and a 20 percent city match, the new trail is officially known as Melton Lake Greenway IV, and it includes concrete sections and an 825-foot boardwalk through a wetlands area.
“It’s a great asset not only to Oak Ridge, but also to Anderson County and the surrounding region as well,” said Steven M. Borden, Tennessee Department of Transportation regional director.
The city now has 53 miles of greenways, said Dan Robbins, Greenways Oak Ridge chairman. That includes about five miles of trails along Melton Hill Lake between Solway Park and Oak Ridge Turnpike.
Building the next section of Melton Lake Greenway, the fifth phase, is expected to be included in the planned widening of Edgemoor Road, possibly in 2014 or later, said Jon Hetrick, Oak Ridge Parks Division supervisor.
During the first three phases, Robbins said, trails were built at the marina, between the marina and Oak Ridge Turnpike, and from the marina to the Edgemoor Road bridge. The fifth phase would extend the greenway from Solway Park East to the Herman Postma Bridge over the Clinch River on South Illinois Avenue.
Borden said TDOT has funded $259 million worth of non-traditional transportation systems such as greenways during the past 20 years.
After Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, Oak Ridge residents Pete Xiques and the Van Hook family—Mark, Jennifer, Zoe, and Christopher—rode their bikes on the new trail while wearing bright yellow SAIC jerseys. Mark Van Hook said an SAIC committee raised $1,000 for the greenway project to help native plants in erosion areas and for interpretative signs along the trail.
Robbins said it was the 18th celebration of a greenway or trail extension in the 19 years since Council asked to set up the greenways project, first proposed by Robert “Bob” N. Ogg, vice president and manager of CH2M Hill’s Oak Ridge Office.
Leave a Reply