Almost four years to the day since the Atlanta BeltLine’s Westside Trail officially opened, the construction gates have come down on its Southside counterpart.
That means a nearly four-mile contiguous ribbon of paved, lighted, public-accessible BeltLine path now swoops from the Westside down through Southwest Atlanta.
Construction on the Southside Trail’s .8-mile Segment 1 began in January last year, a few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic swept across America. The BeltLine announced that, as of Thursday, the trail section is open, though final touches such as tree plantings, some lighting and cameras, and a formal ribbon-cutting are pending.
Segment 1 is a swooping, snaking route—there’s hardly a straight 20 yards along the length of it—through Adair Park, Capitol View, Pittsburgh, and Capitol View Manor neighborhoods. It’s the second of six Southside Trail pieces to be finished—with recent improvements along Bill Kennedy Way over Interstate 20 considered Segment 6—but the first section built from scratch.
The new ADA-accessible path includes fiber-duct banks, security cameras, lighting, granite-clad retaining walls, two connecting trails, stormwater management infrastructure, and a new bridge over Metropolitan Parkway. Head up to the gallery for a look at how it’s all come together.
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