City Council requests to change plans on addition to greenway trail

The Homewood City Council authorized Mayor Scott McBrayer to sign a letter to ALDOT that will request a delay in the construction of a half-mile addition to the Shades Creek Greenway trail, which could save the city up to $1 million in construction costs.

The Shades Creek Greenway, also colloquially known as the Lakeshore Trail, is a three-mile long multiuse trail that runs parallel to Lakeshore Drive. It has two trailheads on Columbiana Road and at the corner of Brookwood Boulevard and Brookwood Village Road.

For years, the City Council has pushed for plans to extend the greenway, but problems in securing right-of-way access on properties along the trail's intended path have stalled the project.

In Phase 2 of the Shades Creek Greenway, the trail will extend from its Columbiana Road trailhead past Interstate 65. In the original plans for Phase 2, two miles of greenway trail would be added, with the last half mile of trail behind the Shades Creek Wastewater Treatment plant. This trail would dead end behind the treatment plant with a small loop at the end of the trail.

“The estimate for this project is probably somewhere around $5.5-6 million, and it’s gone up every year,” said Keith Strickland, project manager at Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood, at the March 2 committee meeting. “I think we can probably get that down closer to $5 million or $5.25 million if we eliminate this last half mile.”

This delay still gives the City Council the option in the future to come back to this half mile of trail when more funding or grant money is available.

Strickland got the idea to hold off on this section of greenway trail when he walked behind the treatment plant with some other GMC employees and realized the conditions back there have changed, he said. These deteriorating conditions could make project costs go up.

“If ALDOT would agree, and I think they will, we can just eliminate or postpone this last half mile behind the treatment plant, and let’s just build it later,” Strickland said. “Let’s get the backbone of Phase 2 in. Let’s get the first mile and a half in … and save that other cost for another day.”

At the April 13 meeting, which was held virtually on Zoom, the City Council authorized the mayor to sign a letter written to DeJarvis Leonard, the region engineer at ALDOT, requesting to remove the last half-mile section and place it in a future phase of construction. The letter cites increased construction costs and limited funding as reasons for the request.

“If allowed to separate this section into another phase of construction, the City of Homewood will commit to funding this project through local funding in a future budget year or would apply for additional grant funding,” the letter states. “The City sees value in this half-mile long section and desires for it to be constructed in the future.”

Although other Homewood parks are closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lakeshore trail will remain open as long as people follow social distancing guidelines.

“The Walking Trail is being treated a little differently than our Parks for several reasons,” McBrayer said in a statement. “Unlike our parks, there are no restrooms to maintain, no real places for crowds to gather, and no playground equipment on our trail. This decision has not been made lightly, and I do believe it is important for us to maintain our overall health.”

The Homewood City Council also plans to hold the next meeting online. Visit cityofhomewood.com for instructions on joining the meeting.