A Place for Everyone 365 Days a Year
Building upon the legacy and design of the 21st Century Waterfront, we will evolve and enhance our Riverfront Parks for residents and visitors to experience and enjoy beautiful, comfortable and exciting park spaces.
Creating High-Quality Spaces for Generations to Come
Thousands of residents have shared their hopes and desires for the Riverfront District through the ONE Riverfront Plan!
Community input serves as the foundation for the ONE Riverfront Plan and collectively, Chattanoogans developed eight strategies to reinvigorate the riverfront. Today, we embark upon the next phase for our Riverfront Parks and “evolve” them into a place for people to enjoy year-round.
The “Evolving our Riverfront Parks” plan is a series of enhancements that will honor history, connect corridors in the district, embrace ecology, soften and provide shade, along with using the inspiration of a southern porch for areas along the river.
“This is an exciting moment to tune up this well-loved and beautifully designed public landscape for its next phase of service to Chattanooga and beyond.”
— Scott Martin, Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors
An Evolved Riverfront
The community of Chattanooga asked for deeper shade, enhanced programming and more opportunities to connect with the City’s unique nature and culture along the river’s edge. This framework plan provides a series of strategies, expressed in both principle and place, that together achieve a more vital, connected and sustainable riverfront.
Explore the Plan
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Memorial Porch
A new space will be provided to honor our local and national heroes. Memorial statues and spaces for reflection will be incorporated.
Throughout the parks, a refreshed and identifiable Riverwalk allows for easy navigation. Traffic calming measures will also be added on Riverfront Parkway.
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Recreation Porch
Taking inspiration from other cities that have reclaimed underpasses for recreational use, a series of sports courts will provide space for pickleball, basketball, biking and more under the Olgiati Bridge. A new loading zone will be added to serve ADA accessible drop-off or to unload watercraft.
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Everyday Porch
Features will include shaded swings, tables with chairs and other places to relax and gather. A signature one-of-a-kind structure will become the centerpiece for a new playground, along with formalizing the hillside play where many slide with cardboard today. A new watercraft launch will be installed along with riverside perches for people to have easier access to the river.
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Civic Porch
The Chattanooga Green will be improved with trees, places to sit under shade, and extensive underground infrastructure enhancements to improve drainage, electric and water hookups, and places for food trucks to access easily. This will enhance both large-scale events and everyday enjoyment of the park.
Ross’ Landing will be home to a new iconic pavilion structure that will serve multiple purposes. Every day, it will provide shade for seating, and incorporate dynamic lighting to brighten the area in the evening. During large events, the pavilion will be designed to accommodate high-quality sound and light systems. An amenities station west of he pavilion will house ranger station, public restroom, and storage space. The Chattanooga Pier will receive new lighting and seating.
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Cultural Porch
The area across the street from the Tennessee Aquarium is set to become a storytelling trail, showcasing our local cultures and history. Potential enhancements, such as new features, may be introduced to enrich the experience.
A grab-and-go style cafe is proposed at the edge of the park, but additional food and beverage options will be explored through a feasibility study.
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Read the Full Plan
Learn more about the history of the Riverfront Parks, the design and planning process, guiding principles and a break down of porch by porch concepts.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Thousands of community members have shared their vision for the Riverfront Parks. Today, we are providing a framework to assist in the planning process. The next step will include expert teams creating design and engineering documents. We anticipate for these documents to be complete at the end of 2025
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As part of the community planning process, major event organizers provided insight and feedback on design features. Many of the elements in the plan support and provide valuable infrastructure needed for major events. We believe that the Riverfront Parks can serve both major events and daily activity.
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It is too early to know exactly when construction will start in the Riverfront Parks. First, the expert teams must create design and engineering documents which may take a year or more to complete. We anticipate any work would be phased over time with a possible first phase starting Winter 2025 and finishing in early 2026.
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The Riverfront District offers over 2000 parking spaces including paid lots, garages and on-street options. On-street parking is free all day on Sundays and after 6pm on the other days of the week.
The Vision for Hawk Hill, recently released by River City Company, does call for new apartments and a hotel to be built on the lots near Riverfront Parkway. Not only will these provide parking for the tenants and guests, but also provide additional parking available to the public. There is not a timeline of when the new apartments or hotel will be built.
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The City of Chattanooga has developed a Parks and Outdoors Plan (POP) that will offer a road map and path forward to reinvent Chattanooga as a city in a park—where a system of parks and protected open spaces connect people to each other. Learn more about the POP here.
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A National Park City is a place, a vision and a city-wide community that is acting together to make life better for people, places and nature. Learn more about National Park City here.
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If you have questions or feedback about the plan, please send an email to dawn@rivercitycompany.com.
A City in a Park.
The City of Chattanooga has the vision that everyone will have access to a well-loved, well-used and well-cared for system of parks, recreation and outdoor spaces that fosters community belonging and well-being and enhances our unique and breathtaking natural setting.
Learn about two new initiatives and vision to create our City in A Park and our journey to become the first National Park City in the Americas.
