Extension could add up to 12 miles of paved paths.

Byline: Lee Shearer

Feb. 13--Athens-Clarke County's greenway network is about to go places.

As soon as five years from now, the network will roughly triple in size, according to a plan unveiled last week by the Oconee Rivers Greenway Commission, the agency that oversees the network.

And the portion of the greenway that includes paved paths for bicycles and pedestrians could grow from about 3.5 miles now to more than 15 miles in a network that will not only connect many of Athens-Clarke County's parks, but form a real transportation network connecting downtown Athens with student housing on the University of Georgia campus and neighborhoods along parts of the North Oconee River.

The greenway system now extends roughly from Sandy Creek Park near the …