December 2016 | Business View Magazine

54 55 ANNiStON, ALAbAmA with some non-profit groups and munici- palities along that entire right-of-way, to preserve it as a bike trail and make it a ‘rails to trails’ project. Municipalities and counties along the way did a great job of paving the old railway. And it’s been a resounding success. “About eight years ago, the final link was completed. Now, there are over 90 miles of paved, continuous trails between Anniston and Atlanta. It really is a beautiful, beauti- ful bike trail. It goes through the southern Appalachian Mountains; it goes through old train tunnels; it goes over trestles; it goes over creeks. It’s one of those well-kept secrets that people are starting to discover more and more.We are in the process, now, of doing the final extension of the trail. It ends on the north side of Anniston and we’re extending it into downtown to link it to our Amtrak station.Within the next few years, we anticipate finishing the final ex- tension of the bike trail, linking it to a new series of bike paths we have on roadways, downtown.” In addition, on the west side of town is the Coldwa- ter Mountain Bike Trail, a nearly 40-mile, single-track, bronze-level trail that is the result of a public/private part- nership between the City of Anniston, bicycling organiza- tions (including the very active Northeast Alabama Bicycle Association), other non-profit groups, grant providers, and the state’s Forever Wild Program, which donated a lot of land for the project. “The plan is, within the next few years, to link all of those bike systems together, so you’ll have about a hundred miles of road bike trails from Atlanta, Georgia ending at the Amtrak station in Annis- ton,” says Davis. “And that will be linked to our mountain biking trail system on the southwest side of town and it will also be linked into our downtown bike paths on city streets. It’s a huge green initiative that we’re really proud of and we’re starting to see a lot of people visit Anniston just for those venues.” As Anniston prepares to become more and more of an eco-tourism destination – in addition to its bike trails, the area also has great hiking, kayaking, and canoeing opportunities, including close proximity to the Alabama River Trail, a 632-mile long waterway that traverses the entire state – the city is also working on redeveloping its historic downtown, a several-block-long area centered