HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — The City of Huntsville is working on plans for an expanded greenway system on the north side of the city.
Thursday, it invited the public to an open house at City Hall to see the North Huntsville Greenway Master Plan.
City leaders say the overall goal is to expand the greenway system on the north side of town to eventually connect all the way from Alabama A&M to downtown and beyond.
However, Dennis Madsen, the Manager of Urban and Long Range Planning for the City, said the plans shown at the meeting are still in the early stages.
“Everything you see behind us is purely conceptual,” he said. “We have started to set aside capital funds for some of the early projects, but it is all very visionary.”
He said the city hopes to time the completion of the Skybridge project and the Meek Greenway around the same time. He said this North Greenway project would bridge the gap between the two.
“So there’s a good bit of space in between there, and we want to connect that so that eventually can go from A&M all the way downtown,” he said.
Madsen said the City of Huntsville has used projects like the Beltline in Atlanta as inspiration.
“The great thing about the Atlanta Beltline is it connects literally dozens of in-town neighborhoods around Atlanta,” he said. “So you can you can go from neighborhood to neighborhood on this greenway.”
Madsen said he thinks people really see the value in greenways.
“They create quality public spaces where people want to be,” he said. “There’s also, unlike a square, there’s a sense of travel and journey that connect communities.”
While Huntsville already has an expansive greenway network, he says people want to see even more.
“People were really excited to have that [the Aldridge Creek Greenway] and they kept saying ‘when can we see more?’ This is really another step in building out that broader greenway network,” he said.
If you weren’t able to make it to the open house on Thursday, Madsen said there will be other opportunities to let your voice be heard.
He said the City of Huntsville is planning a District 1 Town Hall meeting with Councilmember Michelle Watkins soon. Madsen said they will be discussing the North Huntsville Greenway Master Plan at that meeting.
At this time, a date and time have not been set. However, Madsen said he expects it to be in the next several weeks.
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