Forked Deer River Park and the Ragan Levee Greenway were part of a series of grant funded projects for the City of Dyersburg. SSR worked with the City to holistically understand the needs of the community and connect the people to the projects.

Forked Deer River Park was created using land that was donated to the Chamber of Commerce over 30 years ago and has been underused. It included a large metal building that was being used to house the local farmer’s market and another abandoned open air pavilion and cinder block building. The project added access and parking to better serve the existing farmer’s market building. The abandoned pavilion was removed and the area was flatted and graded. The small block building was rehabbed to create the new River Center. The facility serves as a small community event venue and includes restrooms, indoor and outdoor showers, canoe and kayak rentals, and a large covered patio with picnic tables.

The park also includes a playground, a splash pad, and a dog park connected by a trail and sidewalks throughout the park. The entrance was streetscaped and repaved. In conjunction the a road diet was submitted to TDOT, who is planning to replace to bridges in the area soon, to reduce travel lanes and create multi-modal community access to the park.

SSR also assisted the city in creating a ten-foot wide asphalt path on top of the existing Ragan Levee. The Ragan Levee Greenway runs from downtown to the US-51 bypass, through Forked Deer River Park and down to South Main. Future plans include extending the trail down South Main via a multi-use path.