New sidewalks connect Mountain Brook neighborhoods

Mary Balkovetz of Cherokee Bend hasn’t skipped her daily walk in more than 800 days. 

For her and other avid walkers and runners in the community, the recently added sidewalks and pedestrian bridges in the Mountain Brook Village Walkway System (MBVWS) have opened up new possibilities for enjoying the natural beauty of the area.

“I think more people are walking because of them,” said Balkovetz. “I love running into people I know when I’m out there in the mornings.” 

The system now includes approximately 40 miles of walkways and trails.

Making progress

“When I came here about 21 years ago, I was amazed at how many people walked and ran in the community,” City Manager Sam Gaston said. 

According to Gaston, sidewalks were built in Mountain Brook without any overarching plan for many years. In the mid-1990s, however, the city put together a committee to develop a master plan to connect the different neighborhoods and villages of Mountain Brook. 

“The project has been well received by our residents,” he said. “Through this plan, we’ve linked our commercial villages, the schools, our neighborhoods and places of worship.”

Although he said some community members are reluctant to have the new sidewalks built in their neighborhoods, Gaston strongly believes in the long-term value of the walkway system. 

“Once the sidewalks are in, the improvements are done and people are using them, [people] realize how much of an asset they are to the community,” he said. “[The sidewalks] make their homes more valuable.” 

City Council President Virginia Smith can often be seen on the new sidewalks in the Cherokee Bend and Brookwood Forest areas. She looks forward to the benefits that future sidewalk projects will bring to Mountain Brook. 

“[The sidewalks] encourage people to get out more often, use their cars less, get more exercise, and enjoy the beauty of Mountain Brook,” she said.

The master plan

Phase 6 of the master plan’s 12 phases was completed in early 2014. Next on the list for the MBVWS is Phase 9, scheduled to begin in the spring or summer of 2015.

Most of the sidewalk projects so far have been 80 percent federally funded with the city picking up 20 percent of the bill. The sidewalks most recently completed as part of Phase 6 cost a total of approximately $2 million, with the city picking up 20 percent of that cost. 

According to Gaston, the city currently does not have any certainty of funding past Phase 9. 

Thanks to the Safe Routes to School grant, however, Mountain Brook was able to build sidewalks around Mountain Brook Elementary and some near Crestline Elementary with zero construction cost. According to Gaston, construction for these new sidewalks was 100 percent federally funded, while the City only had to pay approximately $150,000 for engineering, inspection and design. 

Looking ahead

In the future, Mountain Brook residents can anticipate walkways connecting Jemison Trail with Brookwood Village and eventually with Lakeshore Trail. Smith looks forward to additional walking routes between Mountain Brook and Homewood near the Birmingham Zoo that are currently in their planning stages. 

“We’ve tried to follow the vision of Robert Jemison, who was the individual who laid out the original part of Mountain Brook in the ’20s and ’30s,” said Gaston. “He envisioned Mountain Brook to be like a residential haven from the pollution, smog and industrial clutter of Birmingham, which was a heavily industrial town at that time.”

Gaston believes that the city has followed Jemison’s vision well, especially considering that Mountain Brook is only 2 percent commercial with a large park system.

More information about upcoming city projects can be found at mtnbrook.org.