The Boardwalk Is Closed, and That's the Best Reason to Finally Try Herb Parsons Lake

If you walked out to the Nature Center trailhead at W.C. Johnson Park anytime after the middle of June, you found a fence where the boardwalk used to start. That's not a rumor making the rounds on Nextdoor. The Town of Collierville closed the entire boardwalk on June 15, 2026, to rebuild its oldest stretch, and it won't reopen until sometime around October 3.

Here's the part most people miss when they hear "boardwalk closed for repairs." The section actually being replaced is only about 1,000 linear feet, roughly a fifth of a mile, built back in 2000. The newer section, built in 2007, is structurally fine. But the whole 0.7-mile boardwalk has to shut down anyway, because heavy equipment needs the full corridor to get in and out. A small fix requires a total closure. That's the mechanism behind the inconvenience, and once you see it, the rest of what's happening in Collierville's trail system this summer makes a lot more sense.

Two projects, one park, same season

What makes 2026 an unusual year for anyone who walks, runs, or bikes regularly in Collierville is that the boardwalk closure isn't the only thing happening at Johnson Park. In February 2026, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved a separate project: nearly two miles of new paved trail connecting Sycamore Elementary, W.C. Johnson Park, and nearby neighborhoods, creating a continuous route that lets students, families, and recreational users travel safely without relying on major roads. Construction on that piece was slated to begin early summer 2026, with completion targeted for late 2026.

So for a few months this year, Johnson Park is being worked on from two directions at once. One project is taking something away temporarily. The other is adding something permanent. Neither is really "about" the boardwalk closure, but if you only heard about one of them, you're missing half the picture of why the park feels different right now.

What's actually closed, and until when

The boardwalk piece is the one with a hard deadline, because it's a signed construction contract. The Town of Collierville approved a construction services contract to replace a section of the Johnson Park boardwalk, with the entire structure closed to the public starting June 15, 2026, so crews can replace the oldest portion, a 1,000-linear-foot segment built in 2000 that runs from the trailhead at the Nature Center to the overlook gazebo.

The project is not small money for a footpath. It's funded through $454,000 previously allocated in the Fiscal Year 2024 Capital Improvement Program, with Nabholz Construction awarded the contract for $429,512.46. The town gave the contractor a specific window to work in. The contract allows for a 110-day timeline, setting a projected completion deadline of October 3, 2026.

"We are working to get the message out now so everyone who enjoys this trail will have plenty of notice before the closure begins," said Public Works Director Josh Russell.

That quote matters because it tells you the timing wasn't arbitrary. Shifting the work to the drier summer months gives the contractor the conditions needed to complete the project efficiently. If you've been waiting for a rainy fall to try the boardwalk again, October is probably the earliest realistic shot, not the guaranteed one. Construction deadlines slip. Plan around November if you want a sure thing.

The mile you can't walk yet

The Sycamore Elementary connector is the quieter of the two projects, but it's the one that actually changes the map. Parents in the Sycamore Ridge and Tara Oaks neighborhoods have voiced strong support for the project, noting that it provides a safer option for students who currently rely on carpool traffic or buses, and local runners and cyclists are celebrating the expansion, which will connect to existing trails that run through Johnson Park and eventually tie into the larger Collierville Greenbelt system.

Town Engineer Mark Healy framed it as the closing piece of something that's been years in the making, telling the reporter the project has been in development for several years. "We're excited to give residents more access to outdoor spaces and safer routes between schools and parks," he said. One Collierville resident put the practical upside in simpler terms. "My kids will finally be able to bike to the park without us worrying about busy intersections," said Collierville resident Amanda Lewis.

Funding for the project comes from a combination of town capital improvement funds and a state recreation grant awarded last year. That detail is worth sitting with for a second. This isn't a project the town dreamed up in response to the boardwalk needing repairs. It's a separate, longer-planned piece of infrastructure that happens to be landing in the same year and the same park. The overlap is a coincidence of timing, not a coordinated master plan, which is exactly why so few residents seem to realize both things are happening at once.

Where Collierville is walking instead

None of this means the season is a wash if the boardwalk was your regular loop. It means the smartest move right now is looking a little farther afield than you normally would.

Herb Parsons Lake. This is the one most people underrate, mostly because it sits just outside town limits in Fayette County rather than inside the Collierville Greenbelt system proper. Herb Parsons Lake is a reservoir lake located in Fayette County, Tennessee near the town of Collierville, owned and operated by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, and named after Herb Parsons, a famed exhibition shooter from the county. What draws walkers and cyclists specifically is the trail mileage. Multiple, sometimes overlapping trails encircle the lake, including a bike trail of hard-packed silt and clay that stretches through the woods for 9.7 miles, and a shorter walking trail of seven miles featuring signs that denote the species of trees around the lake.

Add those two together and Herb Parsons Lake offers close to 16.7 miles of marked trail on its own. For comparison, the entire Collierville Greenbelt System provides 18.58 miles of walking and exercise opportunities citywide, connecting neighborhoods, parks, schools, and commercial areas. One state-managed lake a short drive north is carrying nearly as much trail mileage as the whole town system combined. That's not a knock on Collierville's Greenbelt. It's a reason to stop treating Herb Parsons Lake as an occasional weekend drive and start treating it as a real second option, especially with one park temporarily short a loop.

Nonconnah Greenbelt Trail. If you want something closer to home and fully paved, this one stays open and unaffected by either Johnson Park project. The Nonconnah Greenbelt Trail is a 2.2-mile long paved pathway that spans between S. Houston Levee Road and E. Winchester Boulevard at S. Byhalia Road in Collierville, traveling through the natural area along Nonconnah Creek away from traffic with no road crossings. A second, shorter piece exists too. Another 0.7-mile paved section runs west of Forest Hill Irene Road and north of the Bill Morris Parkway, tucking under the parkway to the Mike Rose Soccer Complex.

Estanaula Park. For a shorter loop near the southern end of town, this one is easy to overlook. Estanaula Park sits at the southern entrance to Collierville and features a tennis court, playground equipment, picnic tables, several benches, a large lake, and an even larger green area, with a walking trail that circles the lake and running from the park's entrance at South Byhalia Road to Sycamore Road. Worth noting: that street connection to Sycamore Road has nothing to do with the Sycamore Elementary connector project up at Johnson Park. Same word, different corner of town.

What to actually do with this

If your normal route ran through the Johnson Park boardwalk, don't wait until October to find out whether it reopened on schedule. Check in closer to the deadline, since construction timelines are targets, not guarantees. In the meantime, the honest move is to drive the extra few minutes to Herb Parsons Lake at least once this summer. Nearly 17 miles of marked trail sitting a short drive from your front door is not a consolation prize. It's a trail system most Collierville residents have been driving past for years.

And if you live anywhere near Sycamore Ridge or Tara Oaks, keep an eye out for the new connector work through the rest of 2026. It's easy to assume road cones and orange fencing near a school mean disruption. In this case it means your kids are a lot closer to being able to bike to the park without crossing a major road to get there.

Collierville changes in small increments most people don't track until they notice the difference all at once. If you want a running read on what's actually shifting around town, not just the headlines, Lauren Haynes keeps an eye on it. Let's Connect.