Haslam Awards Over $1.6 Million in Parks and Recreation Grants
12 Recreational Trails Program Grants Announced Today
NASHVILLE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Environment and Conservation Commissioner Bob Martineau today awarded $1,694,000 in Recreational Trails Program grants to recipients across Tennessee.
“These grants assist local governments and organizations in improving community amenities such as trails, greenways and recreational facilities, making the outdoors more accessible to Tennesseans.” Haslam said. “The health and wellness of our residents is a top priority and these amenities provide another step to make our state healthier.”
The Recreational Trails Program is a federally-funded program established to distribute funding for diverse recreation trail projects. The funds are available to federal, state and local government agencies, as well as non-profit organizations that have obtained IRS 501 (c) (3) status and have a written trail management agreement with the agency that owns the property where the trail project is located.
Recreational Trails Program grants may be used for non-routine maintenance and restoration of existing trails, development and rehabilitation, trailside or trailhead facilities such as restrooms, kiosks and parking lots, construction of new trails and land acquisition for recreational trails or corridors.
“These awards will help fund some outstanding projects, including the development of new greenways and trails and more ADA-compliant facilities,” Martineau said. “We are excited to be in a position to make a variety of recreational opportunities a reality for these communities.”
Funding for RTP grants is provided by the Federal Highway Administration through the federal Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation administers this grant program for the state. The maximum federal share for each project is 80 percent, with RTP grant recipients providing a 20 percent match.
Grant recipients were selected through a scoring process with careful consideration given to the projects that met the selection criteria and expressed the greatest local recreation need.
To learn more about the RTP grant program and other recreation or conservation-based grant programs available in the future, please visit http://tn.gov/environment/recreation/grants.shtml. For more information about the RTP grant program, contact Gerald Parish at 615-532-0538 or Gerald.Parish@tn.gov.
|
County |
Name of the Recipient Organization |
Grant Amount |
Brief Project Description |
|
Cumberland |
Cumberland County |
$30,000 |
To expand and restore the secondary trail in the Obed River Park, create numerous river access points along the Obed River, upgrade the trailhead facilities to include many ADA and recycling opportunities for visitors and add fitness/obstacle amenities to the trail. |
|
Fayette |
Town of Rossville |
$200,000 |
To connect Rossville City Park to the 12-acre lake and partial nature trail by installing a pedestrian bridge and extending the nature trail around the lake, providing a continuous loop of an ADA-accessible nature trail for various non-motorized uses. |
|
Gibson / Obion |
City of Kenton |
$160,000 |
To renovate approximately 5,400 linear feet of existing trail at the Kenton City Park, including drainage improvements and repaving. |
|
Grundy |
Mountain Goat Trail Alliance |
$200,000 |
To construct a multi-purpose, multi-modal recreational trail along the former Mountain Goat railroad bed. |
|
Hawkins |
Town of Surgoinsville |
$120,000 |
To construct a paved trail from an existing pavilion at Creekside Park to connect to Riverfront Park and build a restroom facility at Riverfront Park. |
|
Johnson |
Doe Mountain Recreation Area Authority |
$196,000 |
To develop trailhead parking and restoration of one mile of multi-use trail at Morefield Creek, ADA-accessible restrooms and improvements of existing subsurface drainage system at Harbin Hill and restoration of sections along eight miles of multi-use trails that extends from Harbin Hill to Morefield Creek. |
|
Lawrence |
TSP-David Crockett State Park |
$120,000 |
To update the trail system by repairing and updating the existing trails, adding a few new trails, replacing existing bridges and stairs and adding water bars in high erosion areas and adding trail signage and trail head kiosks. |
|
McNairy |
McNairy County / Town of Selmer |
$52,000 |
To widen the walking trail that surrounds the Selmer City Park and McNairy County School soccer field. |
|
Shelby |
Shelby Farms Park Conservancy |
$40,000 |
For comprehensive restoration of 6.1 miles of multi-use, unpaved trails on the Tour de Wolf Trail System at Shelby Farms Park. |
|
Weakley |
City of Martin |
$200,000 |
To construct a multi-use trail to extend the current Brian Moore Greenway to downtown Martin. |
|
Weakley |
City of Dresden |
$200,000 |
To dedicate the property as park land and to develop a multi-use pathway along an abandoned railroad bed. |
|
White |
City of Sparta |
$176,000 |
To build a bridge and concrete walking trail in Cemetery Park to connect two city parks separated by Calfkiller River, completing a final link in a community walking trail started in 1998. |