By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Alabaster students soon will have a more direct way to walk from Thompson High School to the city’s new YMCA after Alabaster and Shelby County entered into a partnership to add a new walking trail between the two buildings.

During a recent City Council work session, Alabaster City Council members agreed to fund the city’s $8,300 portion of the project, which also is being funded by the county, according to Alabaster City Manager George Henry.

Once completed, the trail will link the recently paved THS overflow parking lot off Warrior Drive with the new Alabaster YMCA building off Plaza Circle. The Alabaster YMCA frequently holds programs aimed at high school students, such as Fifth-Quarter events after THS home football games in the fall.

Currently, Buck Creek Trail connects Buck Creek Park off Sixth Avenue Southwest with the Alabaster Parks and Recreation Department near Warrior Park.

Future plans call for the trail to be extended from its current terminus near the Parks and Recreation Department to the YMCA.

Henry said the portion of the trail extension between the Parks and Recreation Department and THS will not be constructed until a pending widening project is completed on Thompson Road “in a few years.” The trail extension eventually will run under Thompson Road near its bridge over Buck Creek.

Once completed, the widening project will add a new westbound turn lane on Thompson Road from Stadium Drive to Warrior Drive, replace the Thompson Road bridge over Buck Creek and add a sidewalk along Thompson Road from Warrior Drive to Stadium Drive.