Greenways in Tennessee
Currently constructed, paved, multi-use greenways in the Knoxville metropolitan area (plus three gravel greenways in Knoxville and Oak Ridge). City of Knoxville particularly has plans for adding around six miles in 2004. The list is for Knox County and the contiguous eight counties; these Counties include Knox, Anderson, Blount, Sevier, Grainger, Roane, Union, Loudon, and Jefferson; only Union and Grainger lack greenways at this point.
Chattanooga selected as Manufacturings - Best Practice for their Greenway Program. A citizen's task force, the Greenway Board, advocated a high quality greenway path along the riverfront, creeks, and scenic corridors that connected housing, parks, businesses, and tourist attractions. The City contracted the Trust for Public Land, a non-profit organization, to provide technical assistance, coordination, and land purchases, and land protection for the greenways. Land for the greenways and most of the easements have been donated.
Greenways are critical to Nashville's quality of life and are essential to Nashville's economic development. They are a planning tool that eliminates many of the conflicts between quality of life and development goals by improving the qualities that make a city desirable for work and play; by offering recreational opportunities by providing safe, accessible routes for walking, running, bicycling, and other forms of exercise, and for enjoying increasingly hard-to-find natural areas close to home; and by improving environmental quality by protecting plant and animal habitat.
Greenways help clean our water and air through the dedication of sensitive areas, such as flood plains, wetlands, and forests, to low-impact uses.
