BeltLine Updates: Popular gravel trail for survival; revolutionary ensemble

Unlike the thick, turbulent air that has crept over Atlanta of late, the outlook is becoming clearer for two strategically located sections of the BeltLine corridor.

The first concerns the long construction zone that today constitutes the BeltLine’s northeast trail corridor through Piedmont Park.

As reported in these pages last month, Piedmont Park’s Clear Creek Bridge closed abruptly a few weeks ago, limiting access to the popular gravel trail (and interim BeltLine Trail) that runs along the east side of the space Midtown Green.

BeltLine officials have since answered questions that help clarify exactly what’s happening in this area and how long it will take.

The gravel trail, referred to as the “Transit Trail” in BeltLine communications, will remain open to the public in the same condition once construction of the main BeltLine trail through Piedmont Park is completed. The paved section of trail will be located below the gravel trail and will be separated by “dense planting,” according to a BeltLine representative.

As for the Clear Creek Wooden Bridge, a construction crew is currently renovating the structure with a new wooden walkway and wooden handrails and replacing the large wooden beams. This work is expected to last approximately two more months.

“These improvements will ensure the bridge remains safe and accessible to all users,” the BeltLine representative noted via email.

The bridge closure and renovation follows the completion of Segment 1, Phase 1 of the Northeast Trail earlier this year, which marked the first new completed BeltLine project that will debut across the city in 2024.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Midtown, BeltLine officials have scheduled a groundbreaking for the morning of June 24 in Blandtown to begin construction of the Northwest Trail, a complex leg of the 22-mile loop that will connect the Westside in Buckhead.

The first new section of this trail, Segment 5, will take the BeltLine from its temporary end point, where the Westside Trail ends at Huff Road and Marietta Boulevard today and travel northeast to Ellsworth Industrial Boulevard, before ending at the intersection of English and Culpepper streets near the Atlanta Waterworks complex. This is a distance of 0.7 miles.

BeltLine officials are calling the groundbreaking for Segment 5 a significant milestone as it marks the first section of the Northwest Trail to see actual construction. This should take 14 months.

Project leaders announced in a media update today that design work for the remaining 3.6 miles of the Northwest Trail has been completed or is currently underway.

The trail will be constructed in five sections in total, with the longest of them measuring 1.2 miles.

Once completed, the 4.3-mile Northwest Trail will connect 12 other neighborhoods, stretching from Blandtown to Collier Hills, Brookwood and the Lindbergh/Morosgo communities, according to BeltLine’s count.

…

Follow us on social media:

Twitter / Facebook/and now: Instagram

• Photos: The first new Atlanta BeltLine section of 2024 is here (Urbanize Atlanta)