The image Maria Noel offered to open the Alton Park Connector groundbreaking was ancient.
In Greek mythology, she told the crowd gathered for the Dec. 13 ceremony, a man is condemned to push a massive boulder up a hill for eternity, only to watch it roll back down as he nears the top. The story is often framed as an example of futility, but Noel reframed it as perseverance – the refusal to stop pushing, even when progress feels temporary.
“For the historically underserved yet deeply resilient South Chattanooga community of Alton Park, that someday is today,” she said.
With those words, Noel – an Alton Park resident leader – concluded her remarks, setting the tone for a ceremony that marked the official start of construction on the first phase of the Alton Park Connector, a 2.6-mile walking and biking trail designed to link South Chattanooga neighborhoods to the Tennessee Riverwalk and the city’s broader transportation and park systems.
The groundbreaking, hosted at the future site of Station 33 along South Broad Street, represented years of planning, advocacy and persistence by residents, nonprofits, city leaders and private partners. When complete, the connector will link Alton Park, Clifton Hills and East Lake to parks, schools, jobs, food access and essential services – particularly in an area with some of the lowest rates of car ownership in Chattanooga.
The first phase of construction will connect Broad Street to St. Elmo Avenue. It is funded by a $500,000 grant from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, with matching capital funds from the city of Chattanooga.
Trust for Public Land Tennessee State Director Noel Durant said the project reflects the organization’s core mission.
“As we break ground on this phase of the Alton Park Connector, The Trust for Public Land’s mission is straightforward: we create parks and protect land so people can live healthier, more connected lives,” Durant said. “We do that by working alongside communities to achieve the futures they envision for themselves.”
Durant emphasized that the connector is the result of long-term relationship-building and technical work aimed at reconnecting South Chattanooga neighborhoods to daily destinations and to one another. He acknowledged the challenges the project has faced, including the unexpected loss of a federal Environmental Protection Agency grant earlier this year.
“The EPA grant award and its subsequent termination created real challenges,” Durant said. “But alignment among community partners, public leaders and philanthropic supporters reinforces why we stay the course. Unintended setbacks happen, but our partnerships are made of stronger stuff than a single grant agreement.”
Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly framed the connector as both an equity project and an economic investment, tying it to the city’s identity as America’s first National Park City.
“Every neighborhood in Chattanooga deserves great outdoor spaces because the outdoors are our competitive advantage,” Kelly said. “That’s exactly what the Alton Park Connector delivers. It connects a historically disadvantaged neighborhood to the rest of Chattanooga’s park system.”
Kelly said the project is about more than recreation, pointing to research showing that walkable infrastructure improves mental and physical health while also spurring economic growth.
“When people can walk, bike and connect with nature close to home, they can more safely and easily reach parks, schools, jobs and essential services,” he said. “The Alton Park Connector will ensure more residents share in the same access to community activity and investment.”
Kelly also credited U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann for securing a $6.4 million federal appropriation through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to support Phase 3 of the connector, noting that similar Riverwalk projects have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in economic growth.
“Sometimes this work is like gardening – the work people don’t always see,” Kelly said. “Today, we’re planting seeds.”
City Councilwoman Raquetta Dotley, who represents District 7, placed the moment in a longer historical context. She traced the connector’s roots back more than 25 years to the city’s Alton Park Master Plan, titled “A Plan for Change,” completed in August 2000.
“That plan recognized that strong neighborhoods, pedestrian connectivity and access to opportunity are essential to Chattanooga’s identity and future,” Dotley said. “It acknowledged that Alton Park lacked safe pedestrian connections and envisioned greenways and repurposed rail corridors not as dividers, but as bridges between neighborhoods.”
While the vision was clearly articulated decades ago, Dotley said, it was never fully realized.
“Today, we return to that unfinished chapter,” she said. “Phase one of the Alton Park Connector continues a vision that was paused but never forgotten.”
Dotley thanked Trust for Public Land, Erlanger Park and longtime community advocates for ensuring the project did not remain an idea on paper. She closed by acknowledging Alton Park residents themselves.
“Your persistence, pride and love of place are the reason we stand here today,” she said.
Jeff Pfitzer, program director at the Benwood Foundation, reflected on more than 30 years of partnership between Chattanooga and Trust for Public Land, calling the organization’s decision to establish a local presence “remarkable.”
“They’ve leveraged our natural assets – our river corridor, our creek corridors and now our man-made infrastructure along former rail lines – to anchor the growth and economic development we celebrate in Chattanooga today,” Pfitzer said.
He said the Alton Park Connector represents a more equitable phase of that work by extending recreational and transportation options into neighborhoods that have historically been disconnected.
“What’s been especially meaningful is watching The Trust for Public Land work directly within the neighborhoods of Alton Park, Clifton Hills and East Lake,” he said. “They took the time to build relationships, earn trust and strengthen social connections between neighborhoods that had never been connected to one another.”
Private development partners also underscored the connector’s role in shaping growth along South Broad Street.
Claudia Pullen, developer of the Station 33 mixed-use project, described the development as “infill urban development done right,” with housing, dining, offices and community space designed to support walkability and long-term quality of life.
“The question isn’t whether we grow, the question is how,” Pullen said. “Station 33 answers that question with intention.”
Andrew Stone, a partner with Perimeter Properties – a key landowner in the South Broad District – said the connector has been part of the area’s vision from the earliest discussions around the new Chattanooga Lookouts stadium.
“We’ve always said the South Broad District was about much more than a baseball stadium,” Stone said. “It was about economic revitalization, long-term development and creating new opportunities – not just for people here, but for communities across an area of our city that had been neglected for far too long.”
Stone said the connector will function as a commuter route, green space and access point to jobs and training programs supported through a community benefits agreement with the Bethlehem Center.
“What starts as a path will become a movement, a community route and ultimately a legacy corridor,” he said.
For Noel, the day represented the culmination of seven years of advocacy and collaboration. She recounted Trust for Public Land’s early efforts not only to plan the trail, but to address food access, support parks and playgrounds and preserve the community’s history.
“The journey has had its ups and downs,” she said, thanking local residents, elected officials, foundation partners and private property owners who helped “carry this heavy load.”
Standing at what she called “the gateway to the Alton Park Connector,” Noel returned to the image of the boulder at the hill’s crest – one longer rolling backward, but finally moving forward.