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The Hilham School Walking Trail is now open.
Overton County Executive Ben Danner said the Hilham faculty and staff are excited to have the new trial.
“There’s already a lot of people already out there walking on it,” Danner said. “It is really nice. Probably one of the nicest, if not the nicest, walking tracks we have in the county. It is on the playground of the Hilham School and is open to the public. It is really good walking track, and I am glad we got that completed.”
Danner said the physical education teacher for Hilham Elementary School plans to use the track for a walking program for students. Hilham has the highest obesity rate in the Overton County School District.
“They were looking to do an adult workout equipment up at our community center, but we really did not have the extra room for that,” Danner said. “Some of the schools tried to get a grant before to get a walking track, and Allons only had a gravel walking track. We got with the school system and looked at obesity rates of kids in school. We thought it was a good fit with the health department to put the walking trial at that school.”
The paved trail stretches eight feet wide and wraps around the fenced playground at a quarter of a mile long. Pedestrians now have a safe area to walk where there is no shoulder on the road. The project was paid by a $20,000 Healthy Built Environment Grant.
