Work Underway For Design Plans To Expand Rail Trail To Brotherton Mountain

Putnam County’s Rail Trail looking to expand from the trail head in Algood to Brotherton Mountain on Parragon Road.

Interim Chair for the Tennessee Central Trail Authority Brandon Stephenson said they have made a deal with an engineering company to come up with the plans for the expansion. Stevenson said the cost of the plans was between $130,000 and $140,000. Stephenson said he is excited to see this project move forward.

“It’s been a great asset to the community since it’s been open,” Stephenson said. “Now is the time to turn our focus towards the future and to see what this thing could look like in another ten years.”

The plan will nearly double the size of the Rail Trail. It is currently 4.3 miles, and this plan expands it to around 8 miles. Stephenson said it typically costs about a million dollars per mile of expansion, which he hopes to pay for with grants. He said he is looking to TDOT, the state, and the municipalities that help support the trail already, for grant money to fund the project.

“We are trying to find some people who are really really motivated to assist us in locating those grant funds,” Stephenson said. “Our board is a volunteer board and so the people that we have here, you know, they have day jobs and family life. All the while balancing that and trying to balance the ability to grow the trail for the people of Putnam County and beyond.”

Stephenson said they are seeking a grant writer to help fun the Rail Trail expansion. The plan would leave the trail just 10 miles shy of its original 18-mile goal.

“I think when the idea for the trail came about in 2003, the idea for this big 18-mile trail was a big picture goal,” Stephenson said.

The city of Cookeville does have a proposal to expand the trail Westward from the Depot to West End Park. Stephenson said that project is in the hands of Cookeville.