2015 year in preview: The start of a new greenway phase

Plans for construction of Phase II of the Shades Creek Greenway are behind its original schedule but expected to begin this year. Keith Strickland of Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood estimates construction will start in the summer or fall.

The city is currently in the process of acquiring the property needed to construct the greenway, and ALDOT is reviewing the construction drawings. The project was allocated $1.1 million in the city’s 2014-2015 budget.

The completed greenway will allow pedestrians to travel between Brookwood Village and West Homewood Park.

Phase II of the greenway will stretch across Shades Creek under I-65 and end on the back side of the Jefferson County Environmental Services Facility. From there it will travel north to connect with parking lots in Wildwood. 

Strickland estimates that Phase III will begin a year after the completion of Phase II. Phase III will extend across Lakeshore Parkway into West Homewood Park.

Federal funding will sponsor 80 percent of the project while local funds will cover 20 percent.