No More Wet Feet: Holmes Run Getting Bridge

Elizabeth Wright was standing by the Holmes Run Trail crossing near North Ripley Street—a low concrete walkway that had water rushing overtop it Thursday—when a woman approached to pass.

“You can come through, unless it’s too wet,” Wright, the chairwoman of the Holmes Run Park Committee, told the woman. The woman then hiked up her pants legs and walked through more than an inch of fast-moving water to reach the other bank.

But pedestrians and cyclists will soon be able to keep dry when they cross Holmes Run at North Ripley Street or walk along the bank near Interstate 395. The city plans to construct a pedestrian bridge at the crossing and redesign the tunnels that allow cyclists and pedestrians to cross under I-395 and North Van Dorn Street.

The existing crossing over Holmes Run and the two tunnels frequently flood after rain, and the tunnels are poorly lit.

Many of the people who use the North Ripley Street crossing and tunnels aren’t recreational joggers and cyclists, but rather they use the trail to get from one neighborhood to another, Wright said. She’s concerned about graffiti on tunnel walls and believes the poor lighting in the tunnels—which has been destroyed several times by floods—encourages gang activity.

Carrie Sanders, the city’s pedestrian and bicycle program manager, said the trail has poor lighting and a poor surface. The Holmes Run Greenway Project is in its early stages, she said.

City officials plan to develop a conceptual design for the tunnels and bridge to present to local residents at a public meeting in the fall, Sanders said. The improvements will most likely cost more than $1 million, but the final cost is still unknown, she said.

Exercise Equipment, Trail Markers Coming

The city also plans to refurbish an exercise area near the Charles Beatley Bridge, Wright said. The spot currently features parallel bars and a balance beam, which will be joined by metal steps, which joggers can use to stretch their legs, a sit-up bench and chin-up bars. The Holmes Run Park Committee is working on raising $2,000 to go toward the final $10,000 cost from corporate donors.

Wright said the city is also considering installing a Flexi-Pave path of recycled tires—the pervious material currently in use on one trail at Dora Kelley Nature Park—from the Holmes Run Community Gardens to the trail.

Wright is also excited the city is installing trail markers from North Ripley Street to the Vola Lawson Animal Shelter on Eisenhower Avenue, a stretch of about 1.5 miles. The Holmes Run Park Committee pushed for the trail markers after two women were assaulted in the park in 2012.

“This is one of those things that’s fallen through the cracks, “ Wright said. “And as we become a more walkable, bikeable city, knowing sense of place and where you are is important.We anticipate more people will come out and use it.”

Dana Wedeles, an urban planner with the city, said the trail markers will be installed every tenth of a mile beginning this spring or summer. “(It) seems like a lot, but it’s actually the milemarker standard that we found across the county,” Wedeles said.

The 4-foot-high markers will cost about $8,000, and the city is also considering installing small solar lights at the base to light up the markers at night. In the future, markers could be installed on the western position of the trail from North Van Dorn Street to North Chambliss Street, Wedeles said.

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