At the advice of a friend I recently tried a new running trail off Old Madison Pike called Indian Creek Greenway. I really enjoyed it. It is 100% paved, plus the side of the pavement is closely trimmed grass so runners can run on grass if they prefer. It was very scenic and crossed a creek several times with several small shoals giving access to the creek. When I reached the opposite end I saw a sign that called it “Indian Creek Greenway.†Recently I also passed an entrance to a trail on Pulaski Pike that was called “Wade Mountain Greenway.†I put two and two together and started doing some searching online.
Apparently Huntsville has a fairly extensive Greenway system under development as well as several trails already complete.
Completed Greenways include
-Wade Mountain Greenway, 5.4 miles
-Indian Creek Greenway, 2 miles
-Gateway Greenway, 0.5 miles
-Atwood Drive Linear Park Greenway, 1 mile
-Little Cove Rd Greenway, 2 miles
-Big Cove Creek Greenway, 2.75 miles
-Flint River Greenway, 0.75 miles, really just an extension of Big Cove Creek
-Aldridge Creek Greenway, 3.5 miles
The list of proposed greenways and greenways under construction is immense. The above list of completed greenways probably equals about 20% of the total length of all proposed Huntsville Greenways. There was a Greenway Planning Conference held last year that produced a report on the Greenway System. According to this report, which prioritized Greenway Construction, Big Spring Greenway near downtown should be next.
I am very excited about this for a few reasons. Primarily, I enjoy running, and I like to run in new areas along natural trails. However, trails are often unkempt and I end up running through knee-high grass and wondering if the trail will come to a dead end before I want to turn around. Second, I enjoy taking my dog to creeks to play. She enjoys fetching in shallow water during hot weather and generally roughhousing with other dogs in the water. Lastly, this is a great way to preserve specific landmarks in Madison County from over-development. In 50 years the Hampton Cove community is going to be very happy that there are greenways breaking up the sea of suburban homes. I expect the same will be true of the downtown area and its business developments.
The Huntsville Greenway system is another example of Huntsville leadership being proactive in addressing “issues†before they develop into “problems.†Huntsville is going to be a large city at some point in the not so distant future. Preserving natural resources now as a medium-sized city is going to make life better in the future. Traffic management is another example. I know many of you think that the backups on popular routes during peak hours are frustrating, but I’m here to tell you, Huntsville hath not seen real traffic. Imagine you are traveling from Decatur to Huntsville on I-565 and you start to hit stop-and-go traffic a couple miles before the airport. That’s east coast traffic. If you’re traveling north on I-95 to DC you can be prepared for huge slow-downs starting 30 miles outside the city. Huntsville is also taking steps to alleviate traffic burdens now which will pay huge dividends in the future.
Barring bad weather I’m going to take Smokey to the Indian Creek Greenway today and see what she thinks about it. I’ll report back later.
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