MGTA Awarded Grant for Innovative Trail Paving

The Mountain Goat Trail Alliance (MGTA) has been awarded a $352,000 grant under the Tire Environmental Act Program (TEAP) by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. The grant will be used to construct connector trails between the Mountain Goat Trail and the South Cumberland State Park Visitor Center and between the trail and the Fiery Gizzard trailhead in Tracy City.

"We're excited to use this new porous pavement on two sections of the Mountain Goat Trail, and to help reduce the number of tires in Tennessee landfills. Our thanks to TDEC and the TEAP program for choosing us to be a part of this innovative initiative," said Patrick Dean, executive director of the MGTA.

The trail sections will use Porous Pave, a 50/50 mix of stone and recycled tire rubber, instead of asphalt. Porous Pave allows water to soak through, avoiding issues such as tree root intrusion and frost heave. The sections will utilize more than 8,000 tires which would otherwise go to landfills in Tennessee.

Construction on the two sections is scheduled for later this year.