The Flint River Trails Inc. Board of Directors will hold a press conference July 20, 2018 at 10:00 a.m at the Albany Welcome Center, 112 N. Front St., to announce the upcoming projects of the trail system.

Albany to Sasser Rail Trail

The City of Albany has an agreement with Southwest Georgia Rails to trails to build the Albany to Sasser Rail Trail by Spring 2020. The trail follows the right-of-way of an abandoned rail line that heads northwest out of Albany through western Lee County and on to Sasser in Terrell County.

Rail Trail to Downtown Connector

With the Albany to Sasser Rail Trail ending about half a mile north of Tift Park, it is essential that trail users have access to additional destinations, particularly downtown. The Rail Trail to Downtown Connector will extend the southern end of the 13.62-mile Rail Trail to downtown Albany creating about 18 continuous miles of multi-use trails including the existing 2.5-mile Riverfront Trail.

ASU to Downtown Connector

Dougherty County, in conjunction with the University of Georgia Board of Regents, will build a 1.7-mile multi-use trail from the southern end of Albany State University’s east campus to downtown Albany. The ASU to Downtown Connector will be a 12-foot wide concrete trail that will run along the berm between the ASU campus and the Flint River and under both the Oglethorpe and Broad Avenue bridges. From here, it will loop back up to Broad Avenue and cross the Flint on the north side of the new bridge.

Radium Springs Trails

Dougherty County is designing and developing several components of the trails system including a trail head at Radium Springs that are in various stages of planning or design.

Mountain Bike Trail

The Mountain Bike Trail, which is already under construction, starts just north of downtown Albany and follows the same riverfront corridor as the paved trail. When the trail gets to the Oxford Construction nature trail it veers closer to the river and divides up into several loops.

The Flint River Trails Master plan was developed in 2016 to take a comprehensive look at the potential of developing a countywide (and even multi-county) trail system. Not just a stand-alone trail, but a network of interconnected trails for a variety of users including runners, walkers, cyclists, equestrians, mountain bikes and non-motorized boaters. The Flint River Trails system centers on downtown Albany and the Flint River as the hub. Trails of various types then radiate out from downtown like spokes on a wheel.

Now is the time for Dougherty County to be interconnected and re-linked to the Flint River and Albany’s downtown core. A well-designed, well-constructed trail system will go a long way towards making Dougherty County one of southern Georgia’s most desirable emerging areas.