We’re on our way to becoming a more pedestrian-friendly city!
Construction recently began on the multi-use trail at Snowden Grove Park that will allow pedestrian traffic to flow throughout the park from the BankPlus Amphitheater along Snowden Lane, continuing through the wooded area and around Sunset Loop through the baseball complex, connecting to Pine Tar Alley and ending at the tennis complex. The awarded bid for this project totaled $736,685.50 and is being funded 80% by the federal Metropolitan Planning Organization after the City made application four years ago.
This project will further diversify our park to appeal to more citizens that want to walk, jog, and enjoy the peace of getting outdoors, in addition to sporting activities. Snowden Grove was built initially as a baseball complex, but has been diversified with concerts at the BankPlus Amphitheater, tennis expansion, Field of Dreams playground, and soccer next year.
This trail is part of a larger plan to make our city more pedestrian-friendly. It will eventually connect to the Central/Snowden Grove Park multi-use trail, beginning construction in 2020, that will add another 10-ft. multi-use trail which will route southward down Tchulahoma from Central Park to May Blvd., then extending through Silo Square across Getwell to Snowden Grove. Since bike lanes were added two years ago at Central Park and further westward down Clarington Drive, within three years we will have a connected pedestrian route from near Baptist-Desoto Hospital all the way to the tennis complex near Malone Road. In addition to this route, the Main Street Pedestrian Project will be under construction in 2020 to add sidewalks along Main Street from Highway 51 to Saucier Park on Northwest Drive. Also, as wide, “collector” streets are resurfaced in our city, bike/pedestrian lanes are being striped to further improve the network. Colonial Hills Drive, Chesterfield Drive, and Greenbrook Parkway are recent examples of this. Sidewalks were added in Carriage Hills and are mandatory by ordinance for future developments.
Southaven is known from a Planning & Development perspective as an “auto-era” city since we originated after the invention of the automobile. Older cities, “rail-era”, were naturally developed in a more pedestrian-friendly way. We’re gradually catching-up!
