Gadsden State gets $50,000 grant from Alabama Power for walking, running trail

Greg Bailey
·3 min read

Construction is expected to begin this year on a new walking and running trail at Gadsden State Community College after the school received a $50,000 grant from Alabama Power Co. for the project.

It will be dubbed the Coosa River Trail at Gadsden State, according to a news release from the school, and will be available not just to students, GSCC employees and faculty, but to anyone in the community.

GSCC President Kathy Murphy said it will be “a natural recruitment tool” for the school, adding, “It will bring more people to campus and will serve as a reminder that Gadsden State is an affordable option for students wanting a good education close to home.”

A $50,000 grant check from Alabama Power Co. was presented to Kathy Murphy, middle, president of Gadsden State Community College, and to Blake Lewis, far right, athletic director, for the construction of a new walking and running trail on the school’s Wallace Drive Campus. Also pictured are, from left, Spencer Williams, Alabama Power’s community relations manager in Etowah County; Dana McFarland, community relations manager in Calhoun County; and Terry Smiley, vice president of the company’s Eastern Division.

The trail, once completed, will be up to 10 kilometers in length and will basically follow the perimeter of the Wallace Drive campus, according to school officials. It will border the Coosa River from the Cardinal Drive entrance off George Wallace Drive around to the Dub Parker Park boat launch.

It will make a loop at the pond where the City of Gadsden has a walking park and another around GSCC’s new baseball and softball fields, then will track behind the school’s dormitory where it meets the Cardinal Drive entrance.

Elizabeth Wheatley, the school’s grant writer who successfully sought the funds, said the trail will help people who haven’t been on the GSCC campus in a while reacquaint themselves with the place.

Wheatley said the trail will “increase activity on campus and create a buzz that something amazing is going on at Gadsden State. Ultimately, it will create a ‘wow’ factor when walkers, runners and lovers of nature get a glimpse of the Coosa River from a vantage point that they may have never seen.”

“We make it our mission to enhance the quality of life and economic potential in the region,” said Spencer Williams, Alabama Power’s community relations manager in Etowah County. “The latest investment with one our key strategic partners, speaks to both of those objectives.”

The trail also will be the home base for GSCC’s cross country team, and school officials hope by hosting meets it will have an economic impact on the community.

Athletic Director Blake Lewis noted that two major cross country meets held over a single weekend in Huntsville in 2023 pumped $1.4 million into the economy there.

Hosting meets at the Coosa River Trail has big potential to bring visitors who will spend money on lodging, food and entertainment in Etowah County,” Lewis said.

The trail will be constructed in phases as funds become available, according to the release.

Plans for the project also include:

  • An outdoor classroom where GSCC and public school students can study plants, trees, wildlife, fish and birds native to the area. Identifiers will be placed on bushes, trees and wildflowers, plus there will be displays with information about the Coosa River.

  • Fiber optic cables to enable video recorders to facilitate monitoring of the trail for general security and the scoring of cross country meets.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Grant money will help build Gadsden State walking, running trail