Montgomery Considering Rails To Trails Path

by WAKA Action 8 News

There are lots of railroad lines running through downtown Montgomery.

The city is thinking about taking an abandoned stretch and doing something a little different with it. 

It’s hard to miss all the trains moving through downtown Montgomery on a daily basis.

But as times have changed, some tracks have become abandoned, like a 2 mile section that goes from downtown to highland avenue. 

That presents an opportunity for the city’s planning department. 

“Basically if this project comes through we’re hoping to convert this corridor into a bicycle and pedestrian trail. These trails are one of the new trends through the US,” said the city’s director of planning Robert Smith.

The city filed paperwork to express interest in the land back in August. 

The tracks are still in the process of being abandoned.

Smith says it will take a while before the city starts to see progress.

“It’s not going to be a short process. We’re just in the beginning stages of acquiring the corridor and gain control of it through this abandonment process. The next part in that process will be environmental studies, corridor studies, cost estimating and engineering,” said Smith.

Some people in Montgomery are already excited about rails to trails.

Tanzania Williams says she would like to see other abandoned property downtown put to use as well.

“It’s great. We should use it for most of these places. Abandoned buildings around here. Community centers, YMCA’s. We could definitely use it,” said Williams.

“Kids have fun, adults too. We all have a little community, have a little run-a-thon, that would be nice!” said Courtney Elmore.

“Rather than the track, the small track that we have to run on, we’d probably rather do it in the community somewhere,” said Jade Lucas.

Smith said the project could run anywhere from 5 to 10 million dollars.