OUTLOOK | APRIL 2020 45
New trails
The city will be opening at least two new
sections of trails in 2020. The first section of what
is being called the Mount Berry Trail will open
sometime this summer. It’s on the west side of the
Oostanaula and extends from a trail head behind
the US Post Office on Martha Berry Boulevard
along the river to Big Dry Creek.
“You are in some of the prettiest parts of our
entire community as this trail progresses up
behind Oak Hill,” Rich said.
Berry College is working to develop a
connection from the campus and U.S. 27 to the
Mount Berry Trail. A timetable for working on the
project hasn’t been firmed up and they’re working
on the cost for the work.
The second project the city is expected to
complete this year is a spur off the Kingfisher Trail
connecting to Cantrell Street on Aventine Hill.
They’re seeking to develop that connection for
residents in a section of South Rome to the trail
system.
Floyd County officials are continuing to work on
Phase One of the Redmond Trail from the end of
the Oostanaula levee to the post office where it
will connect with the Mount Berry Trail.
Floyd County Manager Jamie McCord confirmed
late in February that Norfolk Southern had finally
signed off on the plans for passage underneath
one of their trestles that crosses the Oostanaula
River coming from Ridge Ferry Park.
Once a new environmental document is
completed, since the old one expired waiting for
the rail company’s approval, the county will be
able to access the Georgia DOT grant funding that
was approved for the project nearly a decade ago.
The second section of that trail will cross U.S.
27 and ultimately tie residents of Summerville
Park and students at Berry College in to the trail
network at The Spires, Berry’s new continuing care
retirement community off Redmond Circle.
The city has acquired right of way from Norfolk
Southern along an old rail line but a date for
actual construction has not been set.
“You start tying all of these trails together
then it becomes a real option where if you are a
student at Berry you can hop on a bike and ride
downtown,” Rich said. “You don’t need to ride a
bus and you don’t need a car.”
Mountain bike riders on
the Pinhoti Trail south
of Cave Spring.