The Beargrass Creek Greenway trail links Payne Street to Grinstead Drive and Cherokee Park.

Route provides safe pedestrian and bike access along along a stretch of the Lexington Road corridor.

A popular trail used by walkers and bicyclists to get to and from Cherokee Park will be blocked off for 2 1/2 years, starting Aug. 7, Metro Parks has announced.

The reason: Metropolitan Sewer District is constructing a storage basin for sewage and storm water along the trail in the vicinity of the former Jim Porter's music venue.

The Beargrass Creek Greenway trail links Payne Street to Grinstead Drive, providing safe pedestrian access along that stretch of the Lexington Road corridor, and a popular bike path for riders who prefer nature to cars and trucks.

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But the creek is polluted and MSD's new storage basin will help greatly reduce sewage overflows there and in nearby Cherokee Park, officials said.

The Courier-Journal last year reported that one overflow location near the trail annually dumps on average 77 million gallons of rain-diluted sewage into a tributary that flows into Beargrass Creek along the trail.

When the work is done, MSD will provide a new trailhead and parking area, said Steve Tedder, the agency spokesman.

Park officials said only two-tenths of a mile of the trail would be closed, but the Beargrass Greenway trail won't be open to any thru-traffic for the duration of the construction project, officials said in a news release. The trail serves several neighborhoods including Clifton, Crescent Hill, Butchertown, Irish Hill, East Market, Phoenix Hill and the Highlands.

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Cyclists and walkers will not be able to travel west on the greenway trail from its access point at Lexington Road and Grinstead Drive.

To access the open portion of the trail, users will have to use the western access point near Payne Street. From that point, approximately six-tenths of a mile will be open, but users will be forced to turn around near the construction area.

Reach reporter James Bruggers at 502-582-4645 and at jbruggers@courier-journal.com.