THE FLY-BY

March 17-23, 2022

Questions, Answers + Attitude

Edited by Toby Sells

MEM ernet

{WHATEVER HAPPENED TO

By Toby Sells

Memphis on the internet.

#HUZZAH

POSTED TO FACEBOOK BY OVERTON PARK CONSERVANCY Cheers rang through the MEMernet last week on news of a new deal for Overton Park, announced by officials from the city of Memphis, Memphis Zoo, and Overton Park Conservancy. The deal will save the entire Greensward, end zoo parking on the field, add about 20 to 25 acres of parkland, add about 300 new parking spaces for the zoo, and more.

Tensions over Greensward parking go back to the 1980s but intensified in 2014 when Citizens to Protect Overton Park launched its “Get Off Our Lawn” campaign. The ensuing years had protests with police helicopters, three plans, and a second line for trees that were cut down.

EYE ROLL

POSTED TO YOUTUBE BY NICK JOHNSON Need rage? Go hate-watch Nick Johnson’s YouTube video titled: “Here’s Memphis, Tennessee: The Poorest, Most Dangerous Place in the South.” The travel vlogger drove through South Memphis early one November morning and said, “Memphis is maybe the scariest place you could visit,” and “I wonder if Elvis would be sad about the way [his] hometown looks these days.”

GO, SAM!

Memphian Sam White, known for his viral “You Can Be ABCs” video, sat with Ellen DeGeneres last week to talk about his new “You Can Be ABCs” book.

The Greenline Extension at Tillman

No construction has begun on the $5.3 million project announced six years ago.

Whatever happened to the project to extend the Shelby Farms Greenline west from Tillman?

For the third installment of our occasional series, called “Whatever Happened To,” we’re checking in on that project. The $5.3 million plan was announced in 2016, nearly six years ago, and construction has yet to begin on it.

Here’s how the project was described by the city of Memphis Bikeway and Pedestrian Program’s website in October 2016: “The scope of this project is from the Greenline’s current terminus at Tillman Street to Flicker Street. Due to the necessity of crossing an active railroad, the city will construct a bicycle and pedestrian bridge in between the Union Avenue and Poplar Avenue viaducts.

“Additionally, the city intends to build a new trailhead at Flicker Street, under or near the Union Avenue viaduct. Once complete, the bridge will allow the Greenline to one day push through Tobey Park, into the [Mid-South Fairgrounds], and possibly beyond.”

Since then, three different people have occupied the White House, a two-year pandemic changed the world, and The Fairgrounds is now called Liberty Park.

For answers on the delay, we turned to Nicholas Oyler, manager of the city’s Bike and Pedestrian Program.

Memphis Flyer: Whatever happened with this project? Nicholas Oyler: This one is also federally funded. So, it’s also beholden to those same environmental clearance requirements [as the Poplar-Cooper Connector], and there are some other formalities that must be met.

PHOTO: CITY OF MEMPHIS Construction is expected to begin on the extension in 2023.

Ah, okay. There’s also acquiring a formal railroad right of way. The project involves building a bridge over an active railroad. Anytime there’s a railroad involved, there’s even more legwork that has to be done, more boxes to check.

We’ve been in that environmental review phase ever since the project started. The good news on this one is that we received that environmental clearance just last August.

So, that cleared the way for the project to proceed with design work. The engineering design consultant has finished 60 percent of the construction plans, so we have the preliminary plans. Those will get reviewed by the state and by us internally.

We will be meeting with project stakeholders probably in the next three to four months. We’ll start talking about more of the amenities, the landscaping, opportunities for public artwork, and that sort of thing.

Kind of similar to [the Poplar-Cooper Connector], we anticipate we’ll be reaching construction mid-2023.

Currently, the Shelby Farms Greenline stops at Tillman Street on the west side. This project will push it farther to the west. So, it’s going to continue past Tillman, where it currently ties in with the Hampline.

It will continue past Tillman, go under the Poplar Avenue viaduct, and then kind of rise up, become elevated to go over those active railroad tracks that the Union Avenue viaduct goes over. It will come down and then land at Flicker Street, near the skate park and Tobey Park.

It is moving forward. Like I said, we expect construction to begin on this in mid-2023.

Is there anything I left out or anything you’d like to add? We’re developing a kind of connection for people walking and people biking to continue from Flicker Street farther west to Cooper Street in Midtown. At this point, it’s just a feasibility study. But that’s another exciting connection that’s underway.