Tag: Wolf River Greenway

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Art Art Feature We Recommend We Recommend

“Shelby Canopy” Brings Public Art to the Wolf River Greenway

Konstantin Dimopoulos’ “The Blue Trees” (Photo: Abigail Morici)

Skies of blue, clouds of white, trees of … blue? Yes, blue — at least along the Wolf River Greenline, where a new free, immersive public art experience is about to open this weekend, complete with blue trees and wind chimes. The experience, titled “Shelby Canopy: Our Shared Connection,” features two temporary installations: “The Blue Trees Environmental Art Installation” by international artist Konstantin Dimopoulos and “Tree Tones” by local artist duo, Belleau + Churchill. This will be Germantown Public Art Program’s first public art installation since developing its master plan in 2019. 

For Australian-based Dimopoulos’ “The Blue Trees,” the artists and volunteers have, since November 1st, applied an eco-friendly pigment to the trunks of more than 100 trees, creating a striking landscape of ultramarine blue trees juxtaposed against the natural browns and greens of the forested area. The concept of the project was born out of Dimopoulos’ concern for deforestation. “In my environmental art installation, The Blue Trees,” he writes in his artist statement, “the colour and the Tree come together to transform and affect each other; the colour changing the Tree into something surreal, while the Tree, rooted in this earth reflects what we may lose.” 

And so, the trees are blue, simply because there are no blue trees in nature; thus, the viewer will pay more attention to them. Since its conception in 2003, “The Blue Trees” has traveled around the world, making Memphis its 36th stop. “This is the first time we’ve done it in a forest area, which is really exciting,” the artist says. “Normally it’s outside a library or a municipal thing; whereas, here it’s kind of like little sparks [of blue] everywhere.”

The pigment is essentially liquid chalk, the artist goes on to explain, and does not have a binder that paint has, which makes it safe to use in a project like this. Over time, the pigment will fade and wash away with rain. It’s likely the trees will remain blue at the Wolf River Greenway for six months.

Konstantin Dimopoulos’ “The Blue Trees” (Photo: Abigail Morici)

“There’s a pretty rigorous selection of trees [for this project],” adds Cat Peña, Germantown’s public art and design manager. “You have to have smooth bark, and we can’t have trees that have lots of moss on them, because it takes a long time for moss to grow, and deeply fissured bark trees that insects can be living inside of them. And so, a city arborist came, and we selected the site, we selected the trees, and we also did a health check like a month beforehand.” 

Further, to complement “The Blue Trees,” the Germantown Public Art program commissioned Belleau + Churchill, Raina Belleau and Caleb Churchill, to create “Tree Tones,” an auditory installation on the same trail as Dimopoulos’ trees. “Tree Tones” features 60 wind chimes, hanging from the trees. “There’s six different tones, and they relate to six different tree species on the trail,” says Peña. “There’s a cord between the six tones that’s scientifically proven to be very calming. And when it’s windy, you’ll be able to hear a little bit of the ecology of the forest.”

An audio tour, accessible through QR codes provided on trail signs, will accompany both installations in English and Spanish, says Peña. “Specifically for Tree Tones, you’ll hear voices of children who’ve worked on this project [with Belleau and Churchill] about their experience with trees and meditation,” she says. “We went to Carpenter Art Garden, The Overton Park Conservancy, Lamplighter Montessori School, and Crosstown High.”

Belleau + Churchill’s “Tree Tones” (Photo: Abigail Morici)

In a similar fashion, Dimopoulos during his stay in Memphis will visit with students at Dogwood Elementary, Farmington Elementary, and Riverdale School, where he will speak about the project and tint a few trees on their campuses. 

For Peña, including the next generation in this project was obligatory. “It sounds kind of cheesy,” she says, “but the children are our future. This project is about our natural resources, … so it’s kind of a way of making these things that are a part of us and we’re a part of just closer to us.”

In turn, Peña hopes these installations will encourage conversations about our ever-so precious trees, the environment at large, and what we can do to preserve and protect the resources we have. Plus, she says, “We are encouraging people to get outdoors and experience nature. We’re really encouraging people to use the trail throughout the county because we’re so lucky to have this trail system. People could be coming from the Germantown side or from the Memphis side [to see the installations], and it was really intentional to place them this close to a city border.”

“Shelby Canopy: Our Shared Connection” opens Sunday, November 19th, and will remain on display through April 19, 2024. The installation is located along a section of the Wolf River Greenway trail system, near the Memphis and Germantown border. (See map below.) The trail is open from sunrise to sunset, seven days a week. Find out more about “Shelby Canopy” here.

Konstantin Dimopoulos will give an artist talk about “The Blue Trees” at Germantown Community Library, Thursday, November 16th, 6:30-7:30 p.m. For more information or to register, call (901) 757-7323.

Park at Kirby Parkway Trailhead or Germantown Greenway West Trailhead for easy access to the installations, which cannot be seen from the road. (Photo: Courtesy Germantown Public Art)
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Opinion The Last Word

How to Survive “The Summer I Didn’t Comb My Hair”

CREDIT: © Spotmatik | Dreamstime.com

What’s up, Memphis? How is everybody doing six months into the coronavirus pandemic?

Well, anybody with an ounce of common sense — or a Black mama — knows deep down that America has not responded well to this situation. “Men lie, women lie, numbers don’t lie” — the data speaks for itself. While many other countries are slowly opening their respective societies because they practiced strict COVID-19 safety measures based on science, we Americans are stuck spinning our wheels with no clear or sensible national leadership from the federal government.

If 2019 was the “Hot Girl Summer,” then I don’t know what to call 2020. Maybe the “I Did Not Comb My Hair Today Because There is Nowhere to Go But Kroger Summer”?

© Spotmatik | Dreamstime.com

Yeah it sucks; movie theaters are closed, can’t hang out at bars and get publicly drunk like you used to, no Memphis in May, no sports, no amusement parks (my bad, we literally don’t have those anyway), and the kicker — Yo Gotti canceled his annual birthday concert in August! Oh Lawd, how will Memphians Black and white get to let loose and express their inner ratchet?

Well, on the bright side, Memphis has a plethora of cool city parks all over the city: Tom Lee Park, Overton Park, Shelby Farms, and the Wolf River Greenway to name a few, plus dozens of miles of protected bike lanes.

I admit, when former Mayor AC Wharton first announced the major initiatives for the Green Lane Project in 2013, I thought such significant resources were misdirected, but I now see the added value of this investment to the city — enhancing the way we use and enjoy our parks system. As COVID-19 has interrupted our regularly scheduled summer, the city’s commitment to expand and aesthetically improve the parks we enjoy really seems to bring us together.  

So, let me rant about a few other things: In May, I was living in close proximity to the Wolf River Greenway and would often go for four- to five-mile power-walks on those wooded trails. There are lakes, streams, and quaint little bridges that attract all types: runners, new mommies pushing strollers, people trying to fish, individuals and families on bicycles. Some days it can get rather busy — traffic looking like I-240 out there — so I am mindful of staying on my side (the right side) of the walk path.  

So, I am out for my usual walk one Saturday afternoon, with my headphones on blasting, walk-dancing to Megan Thee Stallion — sometimes pausing in the middle of the path to see if today is the day that my old ass has figured out how to twerk. But it is not, so I keep it pushing. A few feet ahead I see a big puddle on the path, and there are two things I don’t do — step in grass (because of dog poo) and get my socks wet — so I am hop-scotching left and right. Next thing I know I am on the ground; a lady on a bicycle ran over me.  

She crashed out too, and when we both get up, she had the nerve to go off on me. Key Glock was bumpin’ in my headphones at that moment, so I was already hyped and “On My Memphis Shit” properly cussing her out. Here’s the thing: If you out here on the Greenway with your Tour de France bike and Spandex outfit getting your Lance Armstrong on — then shouldn’t you be riding on these protected bike lanes? Come on, mane. 

Then, two weeks ago, I am on a morning walk Downtown through Tom Lee Park, along Riverside Drive toward Bass Pro. The city had blocked off the street to car traffic, and it felt exhilarating to just walk down the middle of the street (but not like those idiots you know you have considered hitting walking randomly across Poplar between 201 and Cleveland). Anyway, I have moved to the sidewalk as I pass that pretty AutoZone building, headphones on, when I get clipped by a young dude ballin’ out on one of those Birds or Spins or whatever kind of scooter. He crashes into the side railing, almost flipping over the side — which would have been tragic. Again, I got to square up. A fool on a motorized vehicle doing 20 mph should be on the streets (or perhaps those bike lanes), not the damn sidewalk with pedestrians, Memphis! Come on, mane.  

Main point: 2020 has been an extraordinary year, with COVID-19 forcing us to find new ways to safely come together and enjoy ourselves in the Bluff City. Take care of each other, wash your hands, and wear a damn mask! 

Live Strong, Memphis — November 3rd is on the horizon!

Kemba Ford is a politician/consultant in Memphis.

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News News Blog

People Are Biking, Walking More Amid Pandemic

CREDIT: Facebook/Big River Crossing

Facebook/Big River Crossing


The number of people biking and walking here is higher than usual, according to new data from the city.

The city’s Bikeway and Pedestrian Program looked at data from nine automatic bicycle and pedestrian counters installed at different spots around the city that revealed a surge in activity, largely corresponding to the city’s Safer-At-Home order issued in late March.

The counters located in parks, along trails, and on city streets detect passing bikes and pedestrians to provide a total count of both modes or a combined count.

Overton park closed to car traffic in late March and began tracking bikers and walkers at its primary access points and the Old Forest gateways earlier this year. At the Old Forest Gateway near Rainbow Lake there has been a huge jump in bicycle activity since late March.

From the third week in March to the third week in April, the number of cyclists counted per week at that spot jumped by 2,000 users. While cyclist numbers hovered around 2,000, pedestrians counted were close to 6,000, according to the data.

On the graphs below, the Overton Park’s Tucker Street access point off of Poplar Avenue is referred to as Tucker, the Old Forest entrance near Rainbow Lake is dubbed Tyler, and the entryway along East Parkway is called Ben.

City of Memphis


On Big River Crossing, traffic increased to numbers similar to those in the spring following its opening. Counters along Big River Crossing were installed in fall 2016 and have been tracking traffic ever since.

This year, cyclist numbers began similar to that of last year, but by the second week of March, traffic was higher for that week than the same period in any previous year. And by the fifth week of March, the bicycle counts were more than double the average for that period with a total weekly count of 1,245. Last year, less than 400 users were recorded during that week.

City of Memphis

There are multiple counters along the Shelby Farms Greenline. Where the Greeline meets Germantown Parkway, a counter recorded a spike in activity beginning in the last week of March. Usage between late March and the end of April was, on average, 160 percent higher than the same period in 2019.

City of Memphis

Moving west, the counter along the Greenline at Farm Road tracked an average of 5,000 cyclists and pedestrians per week between the last week of March and the end of April. From the fourth week in March to the next week, there was close to a 200 percent increase in activity.

City of Memphis

Even further west, the Greenline counter near Highpoint Terrace recorded more than 7,000 users from late March through April. This is nearly double the average use for this time period.

City of Memphis


The segment of Wolf River Greenway that runs parallel to Humphreys Boulevard has seen the highest usage since tracking began in 2014. Compared to the previous five years, springtime usage climbed more than 80 percent on that portion of the Greenway. In the last week of March alone, nearly 6,000 cyclists and pedestrians were counted, compared to about 2,500 during that period last year.

City of Memphis

The city installed an on-street bicycle counter on Florida Street near Crump in 2017. While traffic recorded by this counter is in line with previous years during late February to late March, the first week in April shows a huge spike in usage. The count for that week was 64 compared to 22 in 2019 and 13 in 2018.

City of Memphis


Explore Bike Share began offering free 60-minute rides for 30 days on March 20th and recently extended the offer through May 20th. In the initial 30 days of the campaign, “Let’s Ride This Out,” check-outs from EBS’ top 30 stations usage increased by 54 percent compared to the month prior. Of those checkouts, close to 85 percent were new EBS users.

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Opinion Viewpoint

The Wolf River Conservancy Preserves Our Water, Wildlife, and Woods

CREDIT: Wolf River Conservancy

Wolf River Conservancy is a 501(c)3 nationally accredited land trust tasked to preserve and enhance the Wolf River and its watershed as a sustainable natural resource. Since its founding in 1985, the Wolf River Conservancy has helped to protect more than 16,500 acres of land, including the beautiful Ghost River State Natural Area. From our very first efforts in 1985 as a volunteer group that successfully opposed a new gravel mine along the Wolf River to our most recent land acquisition, the Conservancy has been focused on protecting lands for the benefit of the public. 

Wolf River Conservancy

Wolf River in Autumn

You may be wondering how protecting land along the Wolf River benefits you, the public? The answer in short is threefold: water, wildlife, and woods.

To expand upon the trifecta, let’s review maybe the most important reason for protecting land in the Mid-South: water. Along the Wolf River, wetlands are the lifeblood of the watershed. Not only do they provide habitat for many critters and rare plants, but they also help purify our water. Wetlands hold onto water that allows pollutants to fall out before flowing into the Wolf or tributary streams. Effectively, wetlands act as a natural first line of defense for water quality. In east Shelby and all of Fayette County, Wolf River wetlands also recharge the Memphis Sand Aquifer. The aquifer is very close to the surface of the earth in Fayette County, and Wolf River wetlands are very low-lying. Thus (thanks to research done by University of Memphis), we know that Wolf River wetlands recharge the Memphis Sand Aquifer. Our very first project (the 1985 gravel mine we stopped) had aquifer recharge implications. The Wolf River Conservancy has been helping to protect land and the Memphis Sand Aquifer since 1985.

Wolf River Conservancy is certainly not alone in protecting land, the aquifer, and surface water. While the Conservancy is effective at wetlands conservation for aquifer recharge, two amazing groups are positively affecting the amount of water we withdraw from the aquifer. The outstanding work that Protect Our Aquifer and the Sierra Club have done for years is vital for prevention of aquifer contamination and advocating for smart use of the aquifer. These groups helped advocate for University of Memphis to obtain a million dollars per year of research money to study aquifer recharge in the city of Memphis. Most recently, we all tag-teamed with Berclair and Nutbush neighbors to stop a proposed landfill and sand and gravel mine in wetlands and the floodplain of the Wolf River.

Other positive side effects of land conservation are the sustainable recreational and educational opportunities it creates. Through land conservation, bottomland hardwood forests (woods) will thrive unthreatened from development or mining. This habitat type greatly affects wildlife populations, and its conservation creates a more resilient Wolf River corridor. The resulting conserved landscape creates thousands of acres of high-quality habitat and diverse wildlife for recreation and endless opportunities for education.

Wolf River Conservancy and many other organizations are bolstering outdoor environmental education by partnering with schools and utilizing protected lands as a location to teach. The protected wildlife and habitat provide hands-on experiences for students to see and touch what they read about in textbooks. The Conservancy’s volunteer river guides also teach and expose kids and adults to paddling in a serene natural setting.

In addition to conserving land, Wolf River Conservancy is partnering with the city of Memphis and Shelby County to build the Wolf River Greenway. The Greenway is a paved trail following the meanders of the Wolf River from Mud Island to Germantown. The Wolf River Greenway, once completed, will link together protected lands as an 850-acre linear park — an area larger than Central Park in New York. The public will gain access to more parts of the city via nonmotorized recreation for picnics, education, paddling, mountain biking, and more. Sensitive wetlands and habitats have been protected via the Wolf River Greenway project, which is funded half from private donations and half from government.

The founding members had a vision of the Wolf River as a future Greenway and wildlife corridor through the city of Memphis, and we are fortunate to be able to enact the vision. We invite the public to our next Greenway Grand Opening on Saturday, April 27, at 9 a.m. at 2630 Epping Way in the Raleigh neighborhood.

Keith Cole is executive director of the Wolf River Conservancy.

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News News Blog

Riverfront Trails Could Get Signage, Other Amenities

CREDIT: Riverfront Development Corporation

Riverfront Development Corporation

The trail from the Wolf River Greenway to the Big River Crossing could get new signage and branding, as the Downtown Memphis Commission’s Design Review Board is scheduled to vote on the matter Wednesday.

Just under five miles, the trail includes paths near the Pyramid, the Fourth Bluff, Tom Lee, and Martyrs Park. 

Riverfront Development Corporation

Thirty-nine concrete identification balls will line the trail


If approved, signs with mile markers, maps, trail identification, and other information will be installed on the RiverLine, along with water fountains, benches, and trash cans.

Identification signs for 10 parks along the trail, including the Vance, Mississippi River, and Crump Parks will also be installed.

More than 50 signs directing people toward the trail would be placed throughout the Uptown, Downtown, South Main, and South End neighborhoods.


According to the application submitted to the design review board, the new signs and other way-finding tools are meant to promote greater public awareness and usage of the riverfront trails, while creating a more comprehensive and connected east-west trail from downtown to the riverfront.

The project also includes installing a sidewalk to connect Martyrs Park to the Big River Crossing.

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News The Fly-By

Construction Kicks Off for Epping Way Section of Wolf River Greenway

CREDIT: Alta Planning + Design

Deep in the heart of Raleigh, hidden away behind two large apartment complexes that face James Road, is a 66-acre oasis of lush vegetation, fish-filled ponds, and a portion of the Wolf River.

The property, once home to a now-demolished country club, is known as Epping Way, and its natural state and proximity to the Wolf have made it an ideal location to kick off construction of the 22-some-odd-mile connector to the existing Wolf River Greenway trail near Shelby Farms.

Construction of the greenway, which will eventually follow the path of the Wolf from downtown to Collierville (and possibly beyond), is happening in small segments, and the .8-mile stretch at Epping Way is the first segment to be constructed after the project was announced last fall. The Wolf River Conservancy, which is spearheading the project, plans to connect downtown’s Mud Island to the existing 2.6-mile Wolf River Greenway near Walnut Grove and Shady Grove via a continuous asphalt cycling and walking trail.

“This is the first privately funded section of the greenway. We started here because the conservancy already owned the land, so there were no right-of-way issues, and it’s a fairly straightforward section from a construction standpoint,” said Bob Wenner, the conservancy’s Wolf River Greenway coordinator.

When the Epping Way section is complete in January, it will include an asphalt trail, two pedestrian bridges crossing streams that connect with the Wolf, and benches. Last week, a construction crew from local, woman-owned firm A & B Construction Company was on-site at Epping Way clearing out brush and debris with a backhoe. A & B has experience with park construction, having recently constructed trails at Audubon Park.

“We’re in the demo phase now. We just took out some tennis courts and asphalt parking lots, and now we’re preparing the area for the greenway,” said Heather Page, vice-president of A & B. “It should take about a month or so to demo the entire area.”

Alta Planning + Design

Epping Way artist rendering

Those tennis courts and an old swimming pool that’s also been torn out were part of the former Epping Forest Club, which operated on the property from the late 1970s to the early ’80s.

In 1948, wild-game hunter and Memphis cotton merhcant Berry Brooks purchased more than 200 acres at Epping Way and used the land to raise peacocks and cattle. He lived in a large mansion on the property that was known as Epping Forest Manor.

Brooks, who ran a cotton business for 53 years, used his profits to go on African safaris and hunt elephants, giraffe, and other wildlife. In 1948, he donated 41 animal heads to the Memphis Pink Palace Museum for the Berry B. Brooks African Hall exhibit, which was on view until 1975. Most of Brooks’ wild-game trophies have since been auctioned off.

Brooks sold most of the property in 1972, and construction on the country club began soon after. After the club closed in the 1980s, the site sat vacant for years. It was donated to Memphis City Schools (MCS) in 2007, and the school system razed the old club and filled in the pool. But MCS didn’t do much else with the property. After the school merger, Shelby County Schools donated the property to the conservancy.

“We used to bring school kids out here for environmental education,” Wenner said. “The greenway will make that easier to do in the future.”

The next construction phase, a mile segment on the north end of Mud Island, went out for bid last week. Wenner said construction on the greenway will occur piecemeal, based on what sites get permitted first.

“It won’t all be connected until that very last piece is done,” Wenner said. “But there may be some temporary routes on-street. The plan is to get it all done by mid-2019 or, at the latest, 2020.”

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said…

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Toby Sells’ cover story, “Bike Memphis!” …

I enjoyed reading Toby Sells’ “Bike Memphis!” article. It made me want to get out and ride. I didn’t see anything in it about the Hightailers, though — the biggest cycling club in Memphis. They’ve contributed to the success of cycling in Memphis, simply by the sheer volume of their membership, their advocacy, and their cycling education efforts.

If you’re not already a Memphis Hightailer, consider joining. There’s a huge wealth of knowledge and social enjoyment in being a member!

Drew

I live in Desoto County in Southaven and commute 31 miles round trip twice a week to Hernando. I ride upwards of 4,000 miles a year, some in Memphis but mostly in Desoto County, where there is zero bike infrastructure. And yet, I have almost no problems whatsoever. I control my lane at all times and communicate to motorists whether or not it’s safe to pass on two-lane roads. Almost all motorists are appreciative and courteous. The ones who throw tantrums still give me a full lane change when passing. A tantrum means I know they’ve seen me.

I will not ride in bike lanes next to parked cars or hidden behind parked cars like on Overton or Broad. Those are super dangerous. I sure hope Peabody doesn’t get bike lanes next to parked cars. Peabody is perfectly easy to ride on as it is.

Don’t ride in the gutter or on the sidewalk. Ride big. Be visible and predictable. Be aware of surroundings and communicate with other road users.

Patrick Smith

West Memphis has their Greenline into downtown completely finished now. I visited recently to check the progress and was happy to ride on paved Greenline all the way to Pancho’s.

It’s great that the Flyer is encouraging people to get out there and explore, and I hope that more people share your initiative. Also visit adanay.co and see some of the interesting rides around Memphis.

Cort Percer

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s Letter From the Editor, “Who to Hate” …

America leads the world in mass shootings. Why? National news media attention is like a vector that reaches people who are vulnerable. These disaffected people can be infected by the attention other angry, disturbed people get by becoming mass killers.

Before he shot dead 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, Adam Lanza created a spreadsheet documenting the names, body counts, and weapons from previous mass murders.

Killing former colleagues, schoolmates, or groups of strangers in a suicidal spasm serves not only as an act of revenge but as a way of forcing the world to be aware of the killer’s inner torment. These public attacks also give the killer the fame that eluded him in his failed life.

Revenge over real and imagined slights, the desire for attention and fame, and delusions all can play a role. Almost all mass shooters are male, with about 64 percent white. The American dream may contribute to the frequency of these killings. When success fails to materialize and men find themselves in the margins of society, they feel cheated and emasculated. They’re in real pain, but they’re eager to blame that pain on those around them. 

The United States has five times the number of mass shootings as the next-highest country in the world. Why? The most obvious reason is our unique gun culture. The U.S. easily has the most guns per capita of any country in the world, with an estimated 310 million guns in circulation, and lax gun laws. In a civil society, what does anyone need with a military style weapon?

Bob Lawrence

High-tech guns in the hands of low-tech minds continue to foster mass killings. Fifty young people killed in Orlando by a lone wolf, male gunman wielding a military-style weapon. It’s the guns, stupid; semiautomatic guns allow mass murders to happen. Over and over again, alienated young males have taken out their anger and hate on innocent victims. This was a hate crime of domestic violence directed at the people in a gay and lesbian nightclub. All these young people would still be alive today if it hadn’t been for the guns and bullets used in this killing spree.

Dion

Categories
News The Fly-By

River Sculpture Going Up on Wolf River Greenway

CREDIT: Colin Kidder

In the next few weeks, cyclists and pedestrians on the Wolf River Greenway will be able to view the Wolf River on land and in the sky — sort of.

Artist Colin Kidder’s 100-foot-long, 16-foot-tall model of the Wolf River will be installed near Shady Grove and Walnut Grove within the next month or so, weather permitting. The massive steel sculpture will be visible to cars traveling along Humphreys as well.

“It’ll be a couple hundred feet from the Wolf, so I wanted to play off that. I wanted to make something suggesting a flow of current. I wanted it to show the full power of the river but still be graceful,” Kidder said.

Colin Kidder

Colin Kidder’s “Raised River” sculpture

The sculpture will be the first of several public art projects along the Wolf River Greenway, a multi-use paved trail that follows the path of the Wolf and will eventually stretch 36 miles from Collierville to Mud Island. Currently, the Greenway stretches about 2.5 miles from Walnut Grove to the Germantown.

Construction on the remainder of the trail will be done in segments. The Wolf River Conservancy (WRC) broke ground on a 20-mile Memphis stretch of the trail last September, and they plan to have the entire path constructed by 2019.

The “Raised River” sculpture will be Kidder’s largest public art project. He was also involved in creating Crosstown’s “Beacon” sculpture with sculptor Eli Gold. That sculpture, an elevated disco ball made from repurposed bicycle wheels, was installed in 2012.

“The UrbanArt Commission did a call to artists, and I didn’t expect to get it. I was just a kid in art school,” Kidder said.

But UrbanArt awarded Kidder the project. That was five years ago, and he said it’s taken “an embarrassingly long time” to wrap it up due to some unexpected delays and sheer size of the project. Artist Tylur French of Youngblood Studio is heading up the fabrication of the sculpture’s steel pieces. French created the bike gate in Overton Park and recently painted the mural on the Broad Avenue water tower.

Kidder said he’d love to have the sculpture installed in about two weeks, but realistically, he said it may take as long as six weeks due to the sculpture’s size.

Two more public art projects are planned for the Wolf River Greenway so far. Artist Lester Merriweather is creating a mural for the underpass at Walnut Grove and Humphreys. Lauren Kennedy, executive director of the UrbanArt Commission, said that may be ready this fall.

“He’s painting the columns of the underpass with a gradient color that goes from orange to yellow to pink, and the mural will feature a pixelated image of a biker. There are sections of it on each column, so you’ll get this cool optical effect as you pass by it,” Kennedy said.

In a couple months, Kennedy said UrbanArt will begin seeking an artist for a third greenway project — a sculpture in Kennedy Park, where the WRC broke ground last fall for construction on the next segment of greenway.

Bob Wenner, greenway coordinator of the WRC, said they’d like to see more public art projects along the path as it’s constructed over the next few years.

“We envision the use of public art as another amenity to add to this corridor of opportunity, to make people say, ‘Hey, have you seen this sculpture? Let’s go hike back there and check it out,'” Wenner said. “It’s about trying to make the greenway a special place to de-stress.”

Categories
Cover Feature News

Wolf Tracks

The Huntington Hills apartment complex in Raleigh looks like any other slightly distressed complex in the city’s inventory of aging, blighted apartment communities. Some of the multi-family buildings in the gated complex are occupied, with bright red flowers sprouting around the walkways and cars parked out front. But other buildings on the site are boarded-up, mini-ghost towns without a single car parked outside.

Out of the back windows of one of the boarded two-story buildings, residents (if the building had any) would have sweeping views of the serene Wolf River, surrounded by thick patches of woods.

In a few years, those residents would have back-door access to the future Wolf River Greenway (WRG), a 36-mile walking and cycling trail that will follow the path of the Wolf River from Collierville to Mud Island. The Wolf River Conservancy (WRC) broke ground on a 20-mile Memphis stretch of the trail in late September, and they plan to have the entire path constructed by 2019.

Deborah Newlin, a Sabal Financial Group asset manager, represents the California-based bank that owns Huntington Hills, which is only 51 percent occupied and went into foreclosure earlier this year. They’re starting renovations on the units’ interior now, and the exterior will be revitalized in 2016. Thanks to the greenway plans, Newlin sees potential for the property and the surrounding Raleigh community.

“Asthetically, [the greenway] will add beautification, and it will add a better sense that this is a safe place to come to,” Newlin said.

Huntington Hills is just one stop on the WRG, which will be the only continuous trail leading from one end of the county to the other. Since the greenway will follow the path of the Wolf, much of it will run through uninhabited areas — wetlands, thick woods, and other natural gems hiding in the city’s urban core. Other portions will traverse impoverished communities, providing a new transportation route for low-income residents without cars. And it will provide connections to the Shelby Farms Greenline and other bike lanes.

The Greenway Today

“We believe we’re building a corridor of opportunity,” said Keith Cole, executive director of the WRC. “It’s more than just a 12-foot-wide paved hiking and biking path. As we go through these diverse neighborhoods — downtown, Midtown, Raleigh, Frayser, East Memphis — we can just imagine increasing the connectivity of those neighborhoods.”

The 20-mile or so city stretch of paved path will add a western connection to the existing 2.6-mile stretch of the WRG, which runs from Walnut Grove to Shady Grove along the southern bank of the Wolf and was completed in 2010. In 2012, it was extended eastward to connect with the Germantown Greenway running adjacent to Humphreys Boulevard.

and after (below).

Although the Germantown Greenway is maintained by the city of Germantown, it follows the path of the Wolf, and the WRC considers it part of their continuous WRG system. Germantown is currently planning to extend its greenway 2.5 more miles to Cameron Brown Park, making it only a mile away from a connection with a planned segment in Collierville.

Between April 13th, 2014 and April 13th of this year, the city counted more than 187,000 cyclists and pedestrians on the WRG.

“Our counts grew by 100 percent when we connected the greenway with Germantown,” says Bob Wenner of the Wolf River Conservancy. “So what happens when we connect with the Shelby Farms Greenline or with bike lanes in other parts of the city? The potential is there for it to come to a million users a year on the Wolf River Greenway.”

The Master Plan

The proposed WRG will begin at the head of the existing greenway near Walnut Grove. From there, it will run northwest along the border of Shelby Farms Park and continue northwest to Kennedy Park, a 260-acre city park in Raleigh with nine baseball fields and two soccer fields.

Kennedy Park is where the WRC held its late September groundbreaking event.

“Kennedy Park is a beautiful park. It’s one of the largest in the city, and it represents the heart of this project,” Cole told those gathered in the park that morning.

From there, the greenway will follow the path of the river to Epping Way, a 66-acre abandoned Raleigh country club that’s now an overgrown natural area with wooded areas and a lake. The trail moves southwest and connects with Rodney Baber Park, an underused 77-acre city park with seven softball fields and one baseball diamond.

“In the ’70s and ’80s, [Rodney Baber] was a really busy place. A lot of people played softball there,” said Mike Flowers, administrator of planning and development for the city’s Division of Parks and Neighborhoods. “But into the ’90s, the park started experiencing a lot of car break-ins at night. Play dwindled to the point that it’s not really used now.”

The May 2011 flood destroyed the sports lighting, concession buildings, and restrooms at Rodney Baber; they were under five to seven feet of water. Flowers said the city is seeking grant funds from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Disaster Resilience Competition to make those repairs.

West of Rodney Baber, the greenway moves through North Memphis, adding a connection to the Chelsea Greenline, and then over to the northern tip of downtown. The WRC controls 80 acres of land on the north end of Mud Island, and they’re proposing a new park at the greenway’s end at the Mississippi River.

“There’s all this land and incredible views of the Mississippi River, so we thought ‘Why don’t we call it something besides Mud Island?’ It’s the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi Rivers, and we kind of like the name Confluence Park,” said Bob Wenner, WRC greenway coordinator. “It’s one of those Kodak spots. It’s a great place to watch the ships come up and down the Mississippi.”

The WRG has a price tag of about $40 million. So far private foundations have committed $22 million, including a $5 million challenge grant from Hyde Family Foundations.

“One of our big priorities is connecting people through green assets, streetscapes, and transit,” said Lauren Taylor, the program director for Livable Communities at the Hyde Family Foundation. “I think this is so exciting, the sheer fact that it’s going through so many different neighborhoods from downtown to Frayser to Raleigh to Shelby Farms Park. There are so many sections that will be close to schools and churches.”

Some funding will come from the city, which has already committed $7.5 million over the next five years. The WRC has acquired another $1.6 million from the Tennessee Department of Transportation. They’ve raised $568,000 in individual donations. Cole said the WRC will go public with a capital fund-raising campaign in mid-2016 when they “start turning dirt.”

Epping Way

Just up James Road from Huntington Hills, tucked away on a dead-end road between two large apartment complexes, are two crumbling pillars flanking a padlocked gate. Once you step over the low gate, you’re led into a massive natural area.

There are worn, paved streets, but they’re closed to traffic, and nature has begun to reclaim them. A short walk along the pavement leads you to the foundation of an old building. Some of the vintage tile from the rooms that were once inside the long-gone structure remains. Ornate tiles with a floral pattern outline an area that may have been an old swimming pool.

Epping Way: before (above) and after (below).

There are overgrown tennis courts and a massive lake, where those in-the-know about hidden Memphis fishing holes come to get away from hustle and bustle of the city. The sounds of nearby traffic along James Road are completely blocked by the rustling whisper of blowing leaves and bird songs. The Wolf River runs nearby, just on the other side of the lake.

This is Epping Way. Its history is a bit of a mystery, but it’s believed to be the site of an old country club and the historic home of Berry Boswell Brooks, a big-game hunter whose exotic kills — lions, hippos, and other wildlife — were displayed in the Pink Palace Museum in the 1950s.
The WRC acquired the 66-acre site (and 55 additional acres surrounding it), and the planned WRG will run through it. Cole and Wenner are hoping to eventually turn the area into Epping Way Nature Center and possibly even move the WRC headquarters to the site from their office building in Midtown.

“Our primary goal is to get the trail in, but [Epping Way] could become an environmental center, maybe like the Lichterman Nature Center. But it would be more of an outdoor classroom,” Wenner said. “You’ve got a river, a lake, and a wetland there. Maybe we could train adults and children in using canoes on the lake, and once they’re comfortable, we could move them to the river.”

The Design

The WRC plans to build the greenway in short segments, and a one-mile segment through Kennedy Park is slated for development first.

“It will be controlled chaos for awhile. It will be all over the place, but eventually, it will all come together,” said Chuck Flink, a senior advisor at Alta Planning+Design, which is working on the greenway design.

Flink has worked on greenway projects across the country, including the Grand Canyon Greenway and the Northwest Arkansas Razorback Regional Greenway, a 36-mile trail near the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Flink says the WRG will be a paved trail, so it will be accessible to cyclists, walkers, runners, wheelchairs, and baby strollers.

“We’ll have lots of boardwalks and bridges. I like to refer to it as changing the plane, so you’ll get above the tree-line or above the surrounding ground in places. That gives people different things to experience [along the trail],” Flink said.

Connecting Memphis

Clark Butcher, owner of Victory Bicycle Studio on Broad, said the greenway will provide a safer east-west connection to get cyclists and pedestrians across the city. Right now, Butcher said cyclists have to use a variety of protected and unprotected bike lanes and trails, some of which require cyclists to share the road with vehicles.

“There’s a huge false sense of security when it comes to bike lanes,” Butcher said. “But what the WRC is doing is providing a dedicated and protected lane. You’re off-road, and it’s not wide enough for a car.”

Cole and Wenner are hoping the greenway will appeal not just to cyclists who would use the trail for recreation, but also to lower-income Memphians who may not have access to a car.

“This will also become a low- to moderate-income transportation corridor, and there will be linkages with MATA bus lines,” Wenner said. “Somebody may bike to a certain point and then ride the bus the last mile to work or school.”

“The route will go through a lot of underserved neighborhoods,” adds Cort Percer, the Mid-South Greenways coordinator. “These are areas that are underserved in terms of access to green space, healthy food, transportation, recreation, and exercise opportunities. The greenway will be a path around the barriers — I-40, high-traffic roads — that have created this access problem.”

Alta Planning+Design’s study on the economic and health benefits of the WRG found that of the 100,000 residents living within a 10-minute walk of the proposed greenway, 2,500 were without access to a car, and 5,000 were below the poverty line.

The WRC is hoping to positively impact the health of the city by giving people better access to walking and biking trails.

In Memphis, 35 percent of the population is obese, and the diabetes rate is 50 percent higher than the national average. According to the Alta Planning+Design survey, the Memphis region will gain 1.19 million miles of walk trips and 1.25 million miles of bike trips once the greenway is complete. The survey found that the overall economic impact of the greenway will equal $14 million in combined health, transportation, environmental, and economic benefits.

But it isn’t just about connecting Memphians to walking trails and alternative transit. The greenway is also being designed to bring residents, who may not even know how to access the Wolf today, closer to the river. Better boat access to the Wolf is part of the master trail plan.

“We already have a very active recreational outreach program with 50-plus volunteer river guys who take people up and down the Wolf every year,” Cole said. “We could envision similar activities along the greenway, engaging neighborhoods and schools.”

At the end of the day, the WRC, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, is a land trust charged with conserving and enhancing the Wolf River by protecting the lands that surround it from future development. Cole and Wenner believe that building the WRG is the ultimate way to conserve and protect the river for years to come.

“We have this river, this asset, floating through our city,” Wenner said. “This is what we do to make it better. This is how we connect people to the river.”

Upcoming Open House Public Meetings on the Wolf River Greenway; all run from 5-8 p.m.: Oct. 20th – The Office @ Uptown (594 N. Second); Oct. 21st – Hollywood Community Center (1560 N. Hollywood); Oct. 22nd – Ed Rice Community Center (2907 N. Watkins); Oct. 27th – Raleigh Community Center (3678 Powers); Oct. 28th – Bert Ferguson Community Center (8505 Trinity)

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Extension of Wolf River Greenway Breaks Ground

The Wolf River Greenway, which currently encompasses around 2.6 miles of trail near Germantown, will eventually extend all the way to Harbor Town. And on Friday morning, officials broke ground on one of the segments that extends the bicycle/pedestrian trail westward.

The groundbreaking took place at Kennedy Park in Raleigh, which is located along the path of the Wolf River. The greenway will closely follow the path of the river with bridges and outlook areas overlooking the water.

Chuck Flink with Alta Planning+Design, the Raleigh, North Carolina-based design firm working on the greenway project, said seven phases of the greenway extension are in design now — including the segment that runs through Kennedy Park — and those will begin construction in 2016. Another eight phases will go into the design phase in the next 30 days.

The $40 million expansion of the Wolf River Greenway should be completed by 2019. The majority of the funding for the project comes from the private sector.

Once complete, the Wolf River Greenway is expected to add 1,126,000 more bicycle trips in the county per year and 4,650,000 more walking trips, according to the Wolf River Conservancy. 

“We get carried away on the built environment and our repaving projects, but we often forget about our natural environment,” said Mayor A C Wharton at Friday’s groundbreaking.