Official ground-breaking ceremonies will be on Monday, Aug. 25 for the Monteagle-to-Sewanee portion of the Mountain Goat Trail as well as for the Monteagle pedestrian enhancement project.
The ceremonies will begin at 4 p.m., next to Monteagle City Hall, for the pedestrian enhancement project. At 4:30 p.m., the group will gather next to Dollar General in Monteagle to break ground for the Mountain Goat Trail project.
“These two projects will improve our quality of life in Monteagle, Sewanee and the surrounding area,” said Marilyn Rodman Campbell, mayor of Monteagle. “By expanding walking and cycling opportunities, we’re helping make our communities safer, healthier and happier.”
The three-mile Monteagle-to-Sewanee section of the Mountain Goat Trail will extend from the Dollar General store in Monteagle west to the current end of the paved trail on Highway 156 in Sewanee. With the completion of the new segment, the Mountain Goat Trail will be a five-mile walking and biking path linking Monteagle and Sewanee.
“This is the culmination of years of work by so many people. The Mountain Goat Trail Alliance (MGTA) especially wants to thank the landowners along the Monteagle-Sewanee section of the Trail who donated easements and made this possible,” said Janice Thomas, MGTA board president.
The pedestrian corridor extension project will install about 2,000 feet of five-foot-wide sidewalks on the east side of Highway 64 beginning at Dubose Street heading south to Elgin Drive. The sidewalk will extend access to the multi-use trail and park in downtown Monteagle. A new pedestrian crosswalk will also be created across Highway 64 at the Monteagle City Ball Park. The town of Monteagle was awarded a $216,320 grant from the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) for this project.
The Mountain Goat Trail project is being funded by a TDOT Transportation Enhancement grant. The MGTA funded five years of engineering and development costs totaling more than $140,000, made possible by the financial support of individuals and private foundations. At the June 30 Monteagle City Council meeting, MGTA board members presented the Town of Monteagle with a check for $85,843.68 toward construction costs for the project.
The Mountain Goat Trail is a rail-to-trail community outdoor recreation project that is converting an abandoned railroad right-of-way into a multi-use recreational corridor between Grundy and Franklin counties on the Cumberland Plateau in Middle Tennessee.
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