A new eco-friendly walking path opened Monday at Eiserman Park.

The Branson Parks & Recreation Department held a ribbon-cutting celebration for the eco-friendly walking trail that was specifically designed to keep tires out of landfills. They also hope the new design will help to improve Lake Taneycomo’s water quality.

“This innovative project is a wonderful addition to the features at Eiserman Park, which includes fishing ponds, a disc golf course and pickleball courts,” Branson Parks & Recreation Director Cindy Shook said in a statement. “We are always looking for ways to improve the quality of life for our community in an environmentally responsible way. We are grateful for our community partners who helped us fund this project and had the same eco-friendly benefit for the community in mind.”

The trail is 10,000 square feet and built from “Porous Pave XL”, a permeable surface that uses rubber from recycled tires supplied by Eco-Shred, a Prime Trucking company. About 3,000 recycled tires were used to build the path. The trail will filter rainwater below the path’s surface that flows into Lake Taneycomo while keeping the surface of the trail dry.

The walking trail is part of the Taneycomo Management Planning and Demonstration project. The project is funded through a partnership of Missouri State University, the Department of Natural Resources, White River Valley Electric, and the parks department. The parks department provided matching labor costs, and was trained by Porous Pave, Inc. to build the eco-friendly trail.

The park is located at 201 Compton Drive in Branson.

(Story by Jason Wert, Branson Tri-Lakes News)