Recreation Trails Program Grant Announced for White County
$176,000 Grant for Trail Completion, Connecting Two Parks in Sparta
SPARTA – Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Deputy Commissioner Brock Hill today presented a $176,000 Recreational Trails Program (RTP) grant to the city of Sparta in White County to complete a walking trail, connecting two city parks.
“This recreational grant will allow Sparta to complete the final link in a community walking trail that began in 1998,” Hill said. “I would like to commend the city of Sparta for their work in obtaining this grant.”
The RTP grant will enable Sparta to build a bridge and concrete walking trail in Cemetery Park to connect two city parks separated by Calfkiller River, completing the community walking trail.
“By improving the recreational opportunities in the community, this grant also enhances the efforts to promote a healthy Tennessee,” Hill added.
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 under certain conditions.
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.
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 are 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.
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