Hundreds are using the not yet-completed Shades Creek Greenway Extension and loving it [PHOTOS]

“You can’t stop them from using the trail at this point!” declared Jane Reed Ross, the Goodwyn Mills and Cawood landscape architect of the not-yet complete Shades Creek Greenway Extension. 

She made the remark with a smile and a touch of giddiness when I greeted her at Shades Creek Greenway trailhead near Columbiana Road by the Homewood Soccer Fields.

“What can you expect on a brisk, sunny Sunday afternoon in mid-February?”

She should know. 

Three decades in the making

For nearly three decades Jane has designed some of the Birmingham region’s most iconic and loved pathways including the Rotary Trail, Jones Valley Trail, Enon Ridge Trail, Hugh Kaul Trail and Sunrise Rotary Plaza. She was also the work-project architect on the original Red Rock Trail System master plan.

But this one is extra special. As a longtime resident of Homewood it’s home. And she has photographic proof — a 2003 image of her husband Neil and three kids mapping out the project behind the Wildwood Shopping Development. This project was decades in the making.

“We have been mapping the route for Shades Creek Greenway since the early 1990s,” Jane told me.

Description of the longer Shades Creek Greenway

If you are unfamiliar with the now much longer Shades Creekway Greenway, here is the best way to describe it.

Phase 1 — the original section of the trail— begins at the Trailhead at Target near the now shuttered Brookwood Village. For 2.5 miles, the path goes along the primarily channelized Shades Creek to Columbiana Road by Homewood’s soccer fields.  Significant landmarks along the way include Lakeshore Parkway, Samford University and Homewood High School.

Phase 2 — the new section — goes from Columbiana Road to the new Trailhead just west of Wildwood Shopping across from John Carroll High School campus. The extension is 1.4 miles (2.8 round trip). When it is completely finished this summer the now longer Shades Creek Greenway will total 3.7 miles.

Used by hundreds of residents last weekend, here is what you can expect via Jane.

“The creek in Phase 2 undulates through the landscape and offers many attractive vistas of the creek from the trail. The way the landscape presents itself it is hard to believe the trail is in the middle of a metropolitan area.  A detention pond, part of the Wildwood Development, is an attractive amenity along the way.” 

And what is the final goal? Building a trail westward along the creek, connecting it with Red Mountain Park. 

Now the big question about the new Shades Creek Greenway — how did it get under I-65?

Jane chuckles when asked this question.

“Over the years one of the funniest questions I have had about the trail’s route is how will it get across Highway I-65?  

The highway crosses over Shades Creek via a bridge that is about eighty feet off the ground. There is plenty of room for the trail to travel under the bridge along the creek. The more difficult road to travel under was Columbiana Road. It is a lower road, but we managed to have enough clearance for the trail to pass under that bridge in Phase 1.”

Building trails take partnerships

Creating new trails is not easy. It takes cobbling together monies from a number of resources. For this project it came from the Federal Transportation’s Congestion Mitigation Air Quality/CMAQ funds and the city of Homewood.

Jane’s group, Goodwyn Mills and Cawood led the project. Chilton Contractors built phase 2 of the trail. And the Freshwater Land Trust, the champion of the Red Rock Trail System, has already installed the new wayfinding signage along the trail with Red Rock Branding.

Homewood Mayor Patrick McClusky summed up why this trail matters.

“Homewood is so excited about the new 1.4 mile pedestrian extension of the Greenway Trail. This addition allows more accessibility, and further distance, to our citizens, and brings a trailhead to connect with another neighboring city. Homewood continues to promote pedestrian friendly options, and the Greenway Phase II is just another shining example of why our city is at the forefront of this focus.”

Stay tuned for an official opening in the coming months. 

In the meantime, even though it is not officially open, take a stroll beside a serene Shades Creek or get an extra couple of miles in on that evening jog. 

It’s ok. That’s what the trail is for.