Blog: City Blog

REI Grants, Partners to Fund $60,000 Bike / Pedestrian Bridge in Urban Wilderness

What a great way to start a Thursday - with an announcement that REI community grants and matching private donors are partnering to build a $60,000 bike / pedestrian bridge connecting tracts in the Urban Wilderness!

For the second year, REI is giving $10,000 each to the Legacy Parks Foundation and to the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club - "change agent" groups that are making a big difference by creating new outdoor recreational opportunities.

An anonymous Legacy Parks Foundation donor is contributing $30,000, and the bike club is adding $10,000 to build the $60,000 bridge that will span Redbud Road.

The new infrastructure is strategically important, because it will create a safe connection between the 42-mile South Loop system of trails and the newly-added 100-acre Wood property and the bike club's planned Gravity Trail.

Outdoor recreation is an economic catalyst. A new report prepared by a UT Department of Economics research team for the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy estimates the Urban Wilderness' economic impact to be $14.7 million a year. Spending by visitors to the Urban Wilderness annually generates $241,498 in state and local sales tax revenue.

If the Urban Wilderness grows to become a "national destination," the Baker Center report states, then its economic clout would exceed $50 million a year.

Thank you, REI, Legacy Parks and Appalachian Mountain Bike Club, for adding to the momentum of the Urban Wilderness!

Rendering of the $60,000 bike / pedestrian bridge that will span Redbud Road.

Mayor Madeline Rogero notes the $14.7 million annual economic impact of the Urban Wilderness.

A half-dozen new trails are planned for the newly-added 100-acre Wood parcel.

These balloons mark the spot where a bike / pedestrian bridge will span Redbud Road.

From left: Carol Evans, Legacy Parks Foundation executive director; Nolan Wildfire, REI's outdoor programs and outreach market coordinator; Mayor Madeline Rogero; Brian Hann, Appalachian Mountain Bike Club.

Posted by evreeland On 25 June, 2015 at 4:56 PM