An update on Greensward parking and the new trail in the Old Forest
Overton Park Conservancy, the Memphis Zoo, and the City of Memphis are excited to share that work is underway on the project that will end Greensward parking and create a new walking trail in the Old Forest State Natural Area. If you’ve walked in the forest recently, you may have noticed some activity in the fenced acreage that’s currently on Zoo property and will come under Conservancy management soon. Crews have finished building a new boundary fence for the Zoo that will allow us to eventually remove the old fence and open up these forested acres to the public.
Before the old fence comes down, we have two more tasks to complete. We’ll be going out to bid in the next few weeks for a contractor who will build the new walking trail over the summer. After the trail is created, we’ll have another contractor come in to remove invasive plants. When that work is substantially complete, we’ll take the fence down. Our goal is to have a ribbon-cutting and open the trail this fall!
At the same time, work is proceeding on the project that will remove cars from the Greensward. This is a complex, multi-step process, and the pieces have to happen sequentially. Phase 1—repaving and restriping the Zoo’s main parking lot—has been completed. Phase 2 will be the demolition of the crumbling asphalt in the park’s southeast corner and leveling of the site to put in a new public parking lot. This phase will also include the remediation of the former City maintenance structures to prepare them for the Zoo’s new maintenance facility. We are currently in the engineering and permitting phase for this part of the project, and work will begin when all permits have been received.
After construction on Phase 2 has been completed, the Zoo will be able to move their maintenance and administrative functions to this part of the park, freeing up their current maintenance area along N. Parkway for Phase 3—the construction of a new parking lot. When that lot opens, cars will no longer park on the Greensward and the Conservancy will take up Phase 4, the creation of a new walking loop around the Greensward.
We appreciate your patience as we complete all these steps! We’re very fortunate that this project is being funded through a $3 million HUD Community Project Funding grant, thanks to Congressman Steve Cohen. We received HUD’s approval to proceed in fall 2024 and began the environmental review process at that time. Since then, the Conservancy has been working closely with the City and the Zoo to refine the design of the parking area and new Zoo maintenance facility.
We’re happy to be teaming up with our partners at the Zoo and the City on this long-awaited project, and to see so much progress underway.
