Tennessee Riverpark

Chattanooga | Tennessee

What We Did
Facilitated land acquisition, planning, and funding for the iconic Tennessee Riverpark.

Our Goal
Grow a 150-acre community hub in one of Tennessee’s biggest cities.

Support Our Work in Tennessee

Two people riding bikes on a sidewalk next to a body of water.

Tennessee Riverpark by the Numbers

25+

years of collaborative work

miles of trails

150

acres of public green space

The Tennessee Riverpark Story

Without the Tennessee Riverpark, Chattanooga just wouldn’t be Chattanooga. This 150-acre community hub offers scenic waterfront views of the Tennessee River enjoyed by locals and visitors on foot, on bikes, and beyond. The park also includes 13 miles of trails, spanning from Lookout Mountain through downtown Chattanooga, including the Walnut Street Bridge—one of the world’s longest pedestrian bridges. It ends at a community fishing park below Chickamauga Dam.

Since 1994, Trust for Public Land has collaborated with the City of Chattanooga and Hamilton County on land acquisition, planning, and funding for this iconic park—connecting residents to nature and one another. Along the way, this hub has catalyzed redevelopment of Chattanooga’s vacant riverfront industrial properties, showing the power of public land beyond park limits.

About This Project

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The Green Way to Grow

Like so many waterfront cities, Chattanooga long saw its river as a resource for commerce, not for people. Before the 1980s, much of the riverfront was industrial; urban buildings faced inland, their backs to the water. But as the city began to contemplate its postindustrial future, the river emerged once more as a key resource—now for people rather than industry. A series of citizen visioning and planning efforts culminated in 1985 with the release of the Tennessee Riverpark Master Plan, which called for $750 million in new development along the river and conservation of 22 miles of river corridor through Chattanooga.

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Chattanooga Bridges the Greenway Gap

The latest addition to Chattanooga’s greenway system is by no means the longest we’ve completed. But if you ask the neighbors who turned up for the grand opening, they’ll tell you this stretch of trail’s got something that matters more than mileage: a bridge, linking the South Chickamauga Greenway to the Tennessee Riverpark.

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Get in Touch with Our Tennessee Team

Chattanooga Office

P.O. Box 3240
Chattanooga, TN, 37404
(423) 265-5229
tennessee@tpl.org

Noel Durant

Associate Vice President, Tennessee State Director

noel.durant@tpl.org