Could federal grant help Huntsville build a San Antonio-like River Walk?
Flood mitigation perhaps does not stir the imagination of needed infrastructure quite like a re-design of the I-565 interchange at Memorial Parkway in Huntsville or even the pedestrian skybridge over the parkway. There are no flashy renderings of flood mitigation plans for Pinhook Creek in downtown Huntsville as there is for the skybridge  which city Administrator John Hamilton described to the city council as eye candy at a meeting in May. Its something we want to do, Hamilton said of the skybridge while emphasizing the project went far beyond that. Pinhook Creek is a large drainage ditch that winds through parts of downtown but that city leaders envision for potential growth and development. Those leaders have repeatedly made comparisons to the River Walk in San Antonio as a concept it would like to mirror on Pinhook Creek. Related: Huntsvilles top traffic infrastructure priority will cost more than $200 million  Along with the 565/Parkway interchange improvements on Pinhook Creek are at the top of Mayor Tommy Battles infrastructure to-do list and that was the message he gave to Alabama congressional representatives during a visit to Washington last month. Battle described the projects as his only infrastructure asks of the lawmakers he met with  Reps. Robert Aderholt, Mo Brooks and Mike Rogers and Sens. Richard Shelby and Tommy Tuberville. Its a major project because it brings out of the floodway a lot of property that is usable in the city of Huntsville but it also provides the connectivity from some low income (housing) areas over to the downtown area, which is an employment center, Battle said in a recent interview with AL.com. Plus, that also provides for those connections for people to get to healthcare centers.  The multi-faceted plan would enhance connectivity while also leading to new economic development possibilities and providing another greenway link in the citys ongoing plans to string together its parks and walkways. We want something thats going to be pedestrian friendly, Battle said. Wed also like to like to, as many say, I dont know if its pretty it up, but to make it where it is an attractive walkway on both sides of that creek. San Antonio has made the River Walk into something that is a major tourist attraction and a major place for people to go jogging, walking.  The city is applying for a $25 million Department of Transportation grant through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program that would cover about half of the project. A $325 million mixed-use development announced last month along Clinton Avenue at the site of the former Coca-Cola bottling company includes plans for revitalization of Pinhook Creek which would include construction of a Riverwalk promenade along the eastern boundary of the creek adjacent to the new development, according to the development agreement with Rocket Development Partners LLLC approved by the city council. This project is not only a (sky)bridge, Jim McGuffey, the citys deputy director of urban and economic development told the city council in May. Its flood mitigation from Holmes (Avenue) to Lowe Mill. It creates additional greenways, its got bike plans, its got great pedestrian access across the parkway. This is a big project.  Thats what Battle told the lawmakers in seeking support to land the grant. The skybridge is important but just as important is an area that will be taken out of the floodplain, the mayor said. All up and down Pinhook Creek, there are major areas which are in floodways and flood plains with the city of Huntsville and part of this project is to do diversion of the water and to actually do retainage of the water at certain sites so you can take a good bit of the land out of the floodplain. It opens you up to being able to take that land and use it for economic reasons. You can use it for apartments, for warehouses, for offices. It just adds to your land mass that you have in the city. Now each one of those adds to your property value and the value of your city though when you put all those assets together, theyre one big value for your city. And that is a major addition that would increase the value of the properties in the city.  Other parts of the plan Battle emphasized was improved pedestrian connections across Pinhook Creek with housing areas near downtown. The only pedestrian access to downtown across the creek is along Governors Drive and Clinton Avenue  two major thoroughfares downtown that are not pedestrian-friendly. Huntsville has applied in the past for the grant that has undergone name changes over the years and officials said they believe that experience has put the city in position to land the grant this time. Should that not happen, though, Hamilton said the city could move forward with what might be a reduced plan that wouldnt include all aspects. Its infrastructure our community needs, Hamilton told the council. You can certainly build portions of it without building all of it.