People who wish to get to the other side of Arnold J. Koonce City Lake in High Point will have an option other than swimming or boating across the lake or walking around it.

A pedestrian bridge across the city’s prominent lake will connect the Piedmont Environmental Center with a city greenway by the end of summer.

High Point has been working hard on its greenways in recent years in order to encourage more residents to get outside and get moving.

The city is using a half million dollars it received as a grant from the State of North Carolina’s Parks and Recreation Trust Fund to build the bridge and to fund related projects.

The NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources announced at the start of the year that the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund Authority had approved nearly $44 million for capital improvement projects – and for land acquisitions that were meant to enhance state parks.

That fund helped pay for 41 local parks and recreation projects across the state, including this much anticipated bridge in High Point.

Local governments had to match the grants.

State parks’ officials explained that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it became evident that North Carolinians needed more parks, trails and greenways for outdoor activity.

Other projects being funded by the same grant program are capital and maintenance initiatives at Kerr Lake and Fort Fisher Recreation Areas and Hammocks Beach, Morrow Mountain, Medoc Mountain, Eno River, Mayo River, Carvers Creek, Chimney Rock and Stone Mountain State Parks.

The Parks and Recreation Trust Fund also approved money for land acquisitions at Baker’s Lake State Natural Area and Elk Knob, Eno River, Hanging Rock, Mount Mitchell, Morrow Mountain, Stone Mountain, and William B. Umstead State Parks.

 

 

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