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BY NIC MILLER
STAR STAFF
nic.miller@elizabethton.com

Local leaders are working to finalize a budget proposal on expanding the Tweetsie Trail in Carter County.

Last March, the county was given property that included the Tweetsie right-of-way between Valley Forge and Hampton, consisting of 1.25 to 1.5 miles of the hiking trail.

“We quickly realized that there was already a County Park there, so we established a County Linear Park and gave it the name Tunnel Trail,” said Ken Gough, chairman of the Carter County Parks and Recreation Board. “This piece of land is less than two miles away from the current trailhead of the Tweetsie in Elizabethton on the Valley Forge end, meaning that it would be a simple matter to expand the trail with this land.”

In addition, several parks are nearby. “There is a park in Hampton known as Green Bridge Landing that is located right across Highway 19E from Hampton High School, a park that is less than a mile away from the Hampton end of the land,” he said. “This project gives a chance to connect Elizabethton as well as Johnson City with the Watershed Mountain Bike Trail, which is also located in Hampton.”

The biggest challenge, besides cost, lies in an access bridge. “We quickly found that the only real problem we had was with the Tweetsie bridge that crosses the Doe River. The bridge has been there for quite some time, and because of that the bridge is now in very bad condition.” Gough said.

“Right now we are in the process of creating a budget presentation for the governor when he visits the area in the next few weeks. We have already presented this idea to Johnson City and a number of other organizations, and we have received several letters of endorsement for the project.”

County officials are working on estimated costs for the expansion, and Gough said a meeting will take place next week with an engineer who will provide a cost estimate.