Huntsville maintains about 130 miles of greenways and trails with plans to build nearly 250 more miles over coming decades. The mayor of Huntsville regularly rides an e-bike downtown and often parks it outside City Council meetings. In 2018 he urged the city to spend $125,000 to defend an officer who shot a suicidal man, resisted releasing body-camera footage, and the officer was later convicted and sentenced to 25 years. Battle ran unopposed for a fifth term in 2024. Alabama contains over 2,000 miles of dedicated biking and walking trails supported by the Rails to Trails Conservancy.
But there Battle was, gamely chatting with reporters like me about how proud he was of the 130 miles of existing greenways and trails located throughout the Huntsville area and the plans to build out nearly 250 miles more over the next few decades. He rides his e-bike through downtown Huntsville to work most days, and staffers told me he often leaves it in the hallway outside City Council meetings. Gotta hand it to him: That rules.
My previous knowledge of Battle was limited to the fact that in 2018 he had urged his city to spend $125,000 to defend a cop who shot a suicidal man within 11 seconds of entering the man's home. Battle also tried to refuse to release the body-camera footage from the scene, even after the officer had been convicted of murder by a jury and sentenced to 25 years in prison. This hasn't hurt Battle's standing in the eyes of Huntsville voters, however.
During our week there, we barely scratched the surface. Alabama is covered in over 2,000 miles of dedicated biking and walkingtrails. My brain was being slightly broken in Alabama courtesy of the Rails to Trails Conservancy, the nation's largest trails, walking, and biking advocacy organization. The RTC has been a long-standing partner of organizations within Alabama seeking to build and improve their infrastructure, and it had invited a few journalists to Alabama to highlight the past, present, and future of trails in the state.
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