The city of Paducah has accepted a $68,095 grant toward building a walking trail at the future Fountain Avenue Health Park.
The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Recreational Trails Program.
Paducah Parks Services director Mark Thompson says the park will be on city-owned property and include the one-third mile long walking trail, a playground and an outdoor performance area.
“It was a housing authority site," Thompson said. "That housing was demolished many years ago and since then, we’ve only put our community gardens on that.”
The gardens will also be expanded before the park opens sometime in 2017. It will be located between 13th and 14th streets on the east and west, and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Madison Street on the north and south.
Thompson said securing funding for the park has been in the works for the past two years. The grant requires a 50 percent match which will be provided through another grant from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.
