Mobile leaders held a ceremonial groundbreaking Monday afternoon for the next phase of the Three Mile Creek Greenway Trail, a project that eventually will provide a pedestrian and cycling corridor connecting downtown to the Langan Municipal Park area.

The newest segment, about three-quarters of a mile long, will be the westernmost part of the project, reaching eastward from the Mobile Japanese Garden. According to information provided by the city, it’s being done in conjunction with a project to rebuild the parking lot at the Japanese Garden.

The total cost of the two jobs is $1.7 million; the trail work is funded by a grant from the Alabama Department of Transportation, while the city’s Capital Improvement Program is paying for the parking improvements with support from City Council Vice President Gina Gregory.

“I am excited to see this begin and really there’s no better place for a trailhead for a walking trail than this beautiful garden,” said Gregory. She expressed thanks to the many agencies and city staff members involved in the project, as well as area residents who helped shape it, and the late Charles W. Wood, who was instrumental in establishing the garden.

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“It is an oasis right here in the middle of the city that to this day, a lot of people still don’t know exists,” Gregory said. “But with this trail going in and more people coming in, I think we’re going to see a lot more folks coming to enjoy this beautiful garden. When [the Greenway] is finished, you may not realize this, but this will really help create connectivity with all of the amenities here in this area. Because from here you can get to Langan Park, you can get to Museum Drive, go all up and down to the [Mobile Museum of Art], to the tennis center, to the Botanical Gardens, up old Shell Road over to USA. And now that Zeigler has bike lanes and sidewalks, you can come from USA down University to Zeigler and then all the way back up.”

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson likewise emphasized the connectivity the project is intended to create.

“Two other trail segments are fully completed from Tricentennial Park to USA Hospital,” he said. “We have one under construction and we have three more in the design phase, which is all very exciting. Once it’s completed, it’ll be a seven-mile network of trails from this area to the project on MLK and the whole idea was just to connect the city, the neighborhoods that are along the trail. And that connectivity is to provide a place for our citizens to safely be able to walk, bicycle, jog, whatever they would like to do.”

The existing trail, consisting of two portions that opened in 2017 and June 2024, stretches from the eastern end of Tricentennial Park westward to a point near USA Health University Hospital. Future sections to the east will cross St. Stephens Road and connect to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., where a separate project will provide improvements for cyclists and pedestrians on the final leg to downtown.

The most complicated and expensive portions lie in the middle of the project. Near University Hospital the greenway will cross the creek on a new bridge. For the eastern and western halves of the trail to connect, it will have to cross I-65, Moffett Road and two railroad lines. That keystone section will be the last portion completed.

RELATED: When will Mobile’s Three Mile Creek Greenway grow? Soon, planners hope

According to information provided by the city, the Japanese Garden will be closed for an undetermined period of time starting Dec. 30. Stimpson said city planners aim to reopen the Garden to the public as soon as work on the parking lot permits. The new section of trail is expected to be ready for use by summer 2025.

For full details of the project, visit https://mapformobile.org/3mctrail/.