Work on developing walking and biking trails throughout Rockdale and Conyers is rolling forward at a good pace.
Rockdale County recently applied for a Georgia Recreation Trails grant that could potentially cover much of the cost for constructing the Wheeler Park portion of the PATH trail.
That portion would start from near the Parker Road Bridge and would run behind the Tennis Center on Parker Road before crossing over the road and eventually running behind the Rockdale Career Academy.
The grant, which would cover about 80 percent of the project and require a 20 percent match from the county, offered anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000 and had a deadline of Nov. 30.
Parks and Recreation Division head Jackie Lunsford said the project was roughly estimated to cost around $75,000.
The city of Conyers is also looking at building more walking, biking and horse riding trails through the Georgia International Horse Park, which would connect back to the PATH trail that would eventually run through the park. The city council recently approved hiring a consultant to plan out the new natural trails in the park. The cost would be covered by funds from the hotel/motel tax, said City Manager Tony Lucas.
David Spann, a director with the city of Conyers, said many of the biking trails were built for Olympic level riding instead of basic, family-friendly levels.
Spann said the city’s portion of the PATH trail would start at the Parker Road bridge, run through Olde Town, by Rockdale County High School and Pine Log Park, and eventually out to the Horse Park.From there, it would connect to Oxford, Covington and Porterdale to the east. To the south, the county’s portion of the trail would run by the Rockdale Career Academy, Johnson Park and connect to DeKalb County’s South River trail, which will eventually connect to the Silver Comet trail.
Spurs off the trail would connect to the Monastery and to Earl O’Neal park.
Spann said land developer 4A had committed to developing about 75 percent of the trail that runs through their property in the county, and SPLOST funding will cover much of the Phase I of trail construction. He added that the PATH foundation usually covered about 10 to 20 percent of the costs as well.
