The Shelby County Commission will be adding 12 new miles of trail to Pelham’s Double Oak Park in the coming months. The new trails at Double Oak Park will connect several existing trails on top of Double Oak Mountain between Bear Creek Road in Sterrett and Dunnavant Valley Road in Birmingham according to Shelby County Tourism Manager Kendall Williams.

Construction will begin on the new trail additions “as soon as possible”, Williams said. From there the county will enter into the third phase of growing the Double Oak Park trail system with the construction of more trails. The first phase of the park was completed in November of last year and currently features 13 miles of multiuse trails for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding, Williams said.

While Shelby County is still working to get official numbers on how many people use the new trails, Williams said the parking lot is frequently full of visitors from all around the country.

“When we pull up in the parking lot there’s always licenses from South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee,” she said. “So, it’s always really fun to see where people are coming from to visit. And of course, our residents enjoy them pretty much every day of the year…People are hungry for more trails in the area.”

Phase two of the project will receive most of its funding from a $350,000 grant awarded by Gov Kay Ivey earlier this month as part of $2 million dedicated to trail projects throughout the state.