such as North and South Chickamauga Creeks. “We are one easement away from being able to open another 3.5-mile segment of the South Chickamauga Creek Greenway,” Rick Wood says. He expects to have the real estate secured for the entire 14-mile trail by late spring. In the meantime, the Riverwalk itself is growing, with
plans that will nearly double its length. One extension will reach to the Moccasin Bend National Archeological Dis- trict, enclosed by that hairpin turn of the river and with records of Native American presence from the time of the Cherokee removal all the way back to the Paleo-Indian period. Another will take trail users to the Lookout Mountain battlefield protected by the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. The Trust for Public Land has helped to build both park sites over the years.
ATTRACTING NEW INDUSTRY It’s time to visit red-dot territory. Rick Wood drives us beyond the Riverpark terminus into an industrial area where loom two huge new industrial plants. A towering 1,000-ton gantry adds a Star Wars touch to the site. The plants belong to Alstom, a major international player in electric power. One facility builds huge boilers and the sec- ond constructs massive turbines. The boiler plant has been in Chattanooga for years but has been newly refurbished. The turbine facility, a new investment in excess of $200 million, represents some 300 new jobs. Both plants meet the highest energy-efficiency and environmental standards. What does a major new industrial investment have
to do with the Riverpark? It’s simple, explains Rick Wood. “Alstom raised the issue of the Riverpark in