Jefferson County cities seek $23 million grant for greenway, trails
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- A coalition of Jefferson County cities and nonprofits has applied for a $23 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation that would help pay for the construction of a 33.6-mile regional greenway and trail network.
"If we were to win this grant, it would be a truly transformational," said Wendy Jackson, executive director of the Freshwater Land Trust. "This is much of what we've been working for for the past 15 years."
The grant process is highly competitive. Communities across the country are applying for the $527 million available through the federal grant program, a pool of money set aside for innovative projects that would have a significant economic impact on a metro area.
The proposed system of on-street improvements, converted railbeds, and streamside trails would link Railroad Park and Sloss Furnaces to Red Mountain Park. It would help rebuild roads and revitalize tornado-ravaged Pratt City and connect it through Ensley to Five Points West.
It would create a greenway along Valley Creek and another along an elevated high-line railroad. Together, they would connect the new Crossplex with Midfield, Fairfield and Red Mountain Park. Over in Shades Valley, it would help Homewood extend the Shades Creek Greenway and connect it to Red Mountain Park.
The application identifies close to $7 million in committed local match money, for a total project cost of just more than $30 million.
The application was submitted by the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham. Jackson, whose organization helped prepare the application, said the grant would jumpstart and hook together an array of projects that have been developing for years.
Jackson said that, regardless of whether the region wins the grant, the application was an impressive testament to regional cooperation. In a constrained time frame, Birmingham, Homewood, Fairfield and Mildfield committed to the idea and helped develop the application, as did the Jefferson County Health Department, The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham and the Red Mountain Park Commission.
The Alabama Department of Transportation also endorsed the plan along with congressional representatives and state legislators.
Letters of support
The application included letters of support from an array of corporate leaders and nonprofits. Even groups that often butt heads such as the Black Warrior River Keeper and the Business Alliance for Responsible Development signed letters of support.
The decision on the grant will be made quickly, in the early months of 2012. The City of Tuscaloosa also has applied, seeking $14 million to help construct a greenway through its tornado-damaged neighborhoods. In 2009, during the first round of applications for the federal money, only 4 percent of the proposals won grants.
Though competition will be fierce, the proposal is loaded with hooks to catch reviewers' attention.
It would direct more than $3.8 million to tornado-ravaged Pratt City, by rebuilding streets and improving sidewalks to link its parks to Ensley and the new Crossplex athletic facilities at Five Points West.
It has a downtown redevelopment component, with street improvements for walkers and bikers that would link Railroad Park and the proposed baseball park with Sloss Furnaces to the east and the civil rights district to the north.
Approaching the 50th anniversary of the historic events of the civil rights movement in Birmingham, the proposed trails and greenways would extend the system of historic walks from the Civil Rights Institute out to the Enon Ridge neighborhood, through areas where movement leaders lived and bombings occurred.
Health
For the sake of health, it would link the Health Department's new Western Health Center with a comprehensive trail system, including to Red Mountain Park. The application argues that recreational opportunities would aid the community in combating its high rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
For the sake of safety, it would provide widespread accommodations and safety improvements for walkers and bikers. Birmingham ranks high nationally in pedestrian death and low on bike friendliness. The application argues that making walking and biking a more viable option through the trail system could help decrease traffic congestion and air pollution.
Money from the grant would vastly speed up the process of developing the 1,200-acre Red Mountain Park, located west of I-65 on the Red Mountain ridge. Included in the grant would be money to turn an abandoned high-line railroad, which runs from the park's border to Fairfield, into a pedestrian and bicycle greenway. It also would pay for a road entrance from Lakeshore Drive into the park property, solving an access problem that had delayed its development.
"It's a very strong application," said David Dionne, Red Mountain Park's executive director. "It may be one of the best I've ever seen for a federal grant."
Though the application was pulled together quickly, it includes detailed drawings and cost estimates on most segments because it brings together a multitude of projects that were being pursued individually.
That also made it easier to clearly identify local matching money for the project. The city of Homewood already had pledged $1.8 million to the Shades Creek Greenway Extension. Birmingham had committed $1 million in local match for the various projects within its bounds.
In addition, the Jefferson County Health Department is putting in $1 million it had reserved as part of its Western Health Center project. ALDOT committed $1 million for the reconstruction projects in Pratt City and $1 million for the entrance road to Red Mountain Park.
CSX Corp. has agreed to sell a portion of abandoned rail line at a $250,000 discount, in support of the numerous Pratt City residents who were current or retired CSX employees.
Nonprofits stepped forward, too. The Freshwater Land Trust committed $200,000; the Community Foundation, $371,600; and the Mike and Gillian Goodrich Foundation, $40,000.
Jackson said the unusual coalition that was willing to pledge money toward the local match for the grant will earn the application points. Alabama's Republican leanings won't win the proposal extra credit in an election year. Then again, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell of Birmingham, who wrote a letter of support and in whose district many of the projects would be built, has political and personal connections to the Obamas.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is a fan of projects that take pedestrians and bike riders into account, and the secretary did visit Birmingham in the wake of the tornadoes and pledge his department's help in recovery efforts.
"I believe we have some unique circumstances to put us at the top," Jackson said.
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