Mill Creek Riverwalk will connect Haig Mill Lake Park to downtown Dalton

Charles Oliver, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga.
·4 min read

Aug. 10—More than a decade ago, during his first tenure in office, Mayor David Pennington announced plans for a series of biking and walking trails connecting the Crown Mill area to downtown Dalton, branching out into a number of directions, ultimately linking to Mill Creek, Mount Rachel and Heritage Point Park and to what city officials called the area's "crown jewel," Haig Mill Lake. Pennington referred to these areas as the city's "green hat."

Since then, under then-mayor Dennis Mock, the city completed Haig Mill Lake Park. City officials are now working on another major part of that vision, a walking and biking trail from Eagle Walk trail to the trail around Haig Mill Lake Park. The Eagle Walk at Mill Creek, a half-mile walking and biking trail just off Chattanooga Avenue that runs parallel to Mill Creek, was constructed as an Eagle Scout project about eight years ago.

"Obviously, this is something we have been working on for a long time, and I'm glad to see it moving forward," said Pennington.

There are two sections to the riverwalk.

"It's about 1.1 miles from the Eagle Walk trail to Haig Mill Lake," said City Administrator Andrew Parker. "This project includes another half mile or so, what we call the west pass, over to Mallard Road, because there are some adventurous folks who would like to traverse that maybe to Rocky Face Ridge. And if that commercial property there is ever developed, people could start there and traverse to downtown or over to the Haig Mill Lake Park."

From Eagle Walk a person can walk or bike south on Chattanooga Avenue to the Crown Mill area and take the Mount Rachel Greenway, which leads to Rachel Street and to the 1.8-mile hiking/biking trail on Mount Rachel or to downtown Dalton.

"We still have some work to do between Eagle Walk and Crown Mill because some of that does not have sidewalk, and there needs to be a pedestrian bridge over Mill Creek," said Parker. "We are working on that project. That will give us continuity essentially from downtown Dalton to Haig Mill Lake."

Parker said the city has received the state permits to construct the riverwalk and is preparing the invitations to bid on the work.

"We had to receive an encroachment permit from the Georgia Department of Transportation to go under the north bypass bridge which goes over what we call Haig Mill Creek," he said. "We had to receive a stream buffer variance from EPD (the Georgia Environmental Protection Division) because portions of the trail go into what they designate as the 25-foot undisturbed buffer. The only permit we are waiting on is the erosion control plans from EPD, but we've received the big permits."

There will be at least one section of boardwalk over wetlands on the trail.

"Initially, when this project came up, we thought we were going to have to construct three or four sections," said Parker.

Parker said he expects to receive bids for the work by the end of September.

"I believe we are going to provide the contractor with four to six months to complete the work," he said.

The estimated cost of the project is $1 million for the trail from Eagle Walk to Haig Mill Lake and another $400,000 for the west pass to Mallard Road.

"We have multiple funding sources," Parker said. "We funded the design with some remaining money from the 2015 SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax). We've had some interest from private donors, and we are still exploring that, but the balance will come from our capital projects budget."

The riverwalk is "a pivotal" part of plans for the park system by connecting downtown to Haig Mill Lake Park. But it's not the final step in connecting various parts of the city for walking and biking.

"Connectivity is a way of life now," said Parks and Recreation Department Director Caitlin Sharpe. "It really helps with leisure enjoyment. We want to see more foot traffic, more bicycles. Not all of our parks are geared for that sort of activity, and something like this really opens up the door."

"There's been a lot of interest in the community in an interconnected trail system," said Parker. "We could connect (the Crown Mill area) to Civitan Park, for instance, through sidewalks and trails. We could potentially work with our partners in the county to connect to Rocky Face Ridge Park. After the riverwalk is completed, it is up to myself and Caitlin and other stakeholders to work on further plans for connectivity. We want people to be able to walk and bike here."