A new section of Mobile’s Three Mile Creek Greenway opened Thursday, the second piece of a path that will one day give pedestrians and cyclists a route from the Langan Municipal Park area to Downtown.

Mayor Sandy Stimpson, District 1 Councilman Cory Penn and others took part in a ribbon cutting for a section of trail that extends the Greenway path about six-tenths of a mile westward from its previous terminus.

While short, the section is significant in that it is the first to tap into the Greenway’s potential as a connector. The first section, which opened in 2017, stretches from the east end of Tricentennial Park to a terminus on a neighborhood street west of Stanton Road. The new section doesn’t quite provide a direct connection to the campus of USA Health University Hospital, but connects to Judge McMaken Drive very near the 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. To the west, the path will cross the creek and eventually connect to the Charles Wood Japanese Garden near Langan Park. According to information provided by the city, the westernmost section will be the next built, with a groundbreaking likely by the end of the year. Design work for two more sections is almost complete, according to a city statement.

Stimpson noted that the new section is asphalt edged in concrete, rather than full concrete. “For walkers and runners, the asphalt surface, you know, is much better on the legs than is the concrete,” he said. “So we’re learning as we go.”

Penn said the moment was slightly bittersweet for some neighborhood residents, because they can remember when homes liked the banks of the creek. Though Penn did not elaborate, the city bought up creekside property after floods in 1980 and 1981 damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes.

“It used to be homes here, but now we have the opportunity to still celebrate,” said Penn. “Now residents can come back, they can bring their families, their grandkids, they can walk, they can ride their bike, but they can enjoy where they used to live.”

Ryan Collins of Dix-Hite, one of the contractors involved in the project, said that projects such as the Greenway are “very technical and they take a long time.”

“So you have to have a lot of patience, but they also last a long time and they make a major difference in the communities where they’re built,” he said. Collins said the new section of trail features solar-powered streetlights that power their own Wi-Fi-connected security cameras.

“And I’d also like to mention a couple of features of this section were two really old and really beautiful live oaks and the city worked hard in combination with the state to preserve those live oaks and create a really unique setting,” said Collins. “So, if you have a chance, please walk a little bit further down the trail to sit under one of those live oaks and take a look at the creek. It’s an amazing experience and it really sets this trail apart from some of the other sections.”

One of the trees has branches that curl completely over the trail, creating a particularly picturesque tunnel of shade. Both feature benches.

Stimpson said funding for the new section of trail came from three sources: RESTORE Act funding related to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, a Transportation Alternatives Program grant, an allocation by Penn from District One’s capital improvement funds.

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