Anniston, AL – The Anniston City Council Anniston is pleased to update everyone on the amazing development on the Chief Ladiga Trail Extension project. This revolutionary initiative is aiming connecting to connect the Chief Ladiga Trail Head at Michael Tucker Park to the Anniston Multi-Modal Center, creating an uninterrupted trail that covers 6.5 miles.
The City began this project in the month of May 2022. They enlisted the skills from Sain Associates to provide professional engineering services to the chief Ladiga Trail. The first part of the project was reviewing the old bridges of the railroad to determine their state of repair and to determine the required degree of rehabilitation or replacement for the safe passage of users of the trail. Koppers Railroad Structures, hailing from Madison, Wisconsin, conducted an extensive inspection in the summer months, and then submitted their findings to the city in August 2022. The inspection found that the timber structures required urgent repairs. The City therefore took the critical decision to repair the bridges, which required additional geotechnical and structural design work by our expert engineering team.
The City, in conjunction with engineers, have been working hard working towards the design of an extension of the trails. The trail extension was completed in December of 2022. an extensive submission was sent for review by the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) and included the 30% completion plan to be reviewed. In spring 2023 Building and Earth performed geotechnical work, focusing on an assessment of the foundation of the bridge. The design process for the bridge under the direction of Christy Cobb, incorporated hydraulic studies carried out by Walter Schoel Engineering to establish elevations and limit the impact of bridge structure.
Currently, the plans are at a staggering 80percent completion The City has working on sending them to the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) in mid-June for evaluation. In the following weeks, two additional submissions to ALDOT will be submitted prior to receiving their approval to launch an advertisement and start the bidding process for construction. To finance for the building phase, the city has been diligently submitting the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant and anticipates receiving receipt of the award on July 21, 2023. In the event of a grant being approved construction is expected to begin in the fall of 2023. The expected completion date of late 2024.
The city of Anniston is thrilled over the enormous benefits this Chief Ladiga Trail Extension is expected to bring to the community, encouraging connectivity, encouraging active lifestyles and the economy. This City of Anniston is committed to working hard to achieve the success of this dream project which will be a lasting legacy to the community for generations to be.
