Unlike the thick, soupy air that’s crept over Atlanta lately, the outlook is becoming clearer for two sections of the BeltLine corridor in strategic places.

The first involves the long construction zone that is the BeltLine’s Northeast Trail corridor through Piedmont Park these days.

As reported on these pages last month, Piedmont Park’s Clear Creek bridge abruptly closed a few weeks ago, restricting some access to the popular gravel pathway (and interim BeltLine trail) that runs along the eastern side of the Midtown greenspace.

BeltLine officials have since responded to questions that help clear the air as to exactly what’s happening in that 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 largely the same state once construction of the BeltLine’s mainline trail is finished through Piedmont Park. The paved trail section will sit below the gravel trail and be separated by “dense planting,” according to a BeltLine representative.

As for the wooden Clear Creek bridge, a construction team is currently refurbishing the structure with a new boardwalk walkway and wooden handrails and replacing large timbers. That work is expected to take roughly another two months.

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

As shown in May, the Piedmont Park gravel trail in relation to the BeltLine's Northeast Trail, Segment 1 (phase two) construction, at left. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

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

Meanwhile, on the flipside of Midtown, BeltLine officials have scheduled a groundbreaking the morning of June 24 in Blandtown to start construction of the Northwest Trail, a complex leg of the 22-mile loop that will link the Westside with Buckhead.

The first new piece of that trail, Segment 5, will take the BeltLine from its temporary end point—where the Westside Trail terminates 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. That’s a distance of .7 miles.

BeltLine officials call the Segment 5 groundbreaking a significant milestone in that it marks the first Northwest Trail section to see actual construction. It’s expected to take 14 months to complete.

Three planned segments of the BeltLine's Northwest Trail linking the Westside to Buckhead. Atlanta BeltLine Inc.

Project leaders relayed in a media update today that design work for the remaining 3.6 miles of the Northwest Trail has either been finished or is currently in progress.

The trail will be built in five sections overall, the longest of them 1.2 miles.

Once finished, the 4.3-mile Northwest Trail will link together another 12 neighborhoods, spanning from Blandtown to Collier Hills, Brookwood, and the Lindbergh/Morosgo communities, according to the BeltLine’s tally.

Where the BeltLine's Westside Trail ends at Huff Road today—and an approximation of where Northwest Trail Segment 5 will pick up progress soon toward Underwood Hills and Buckhead. Courtesy of Atlanta BeltLine Inc./PATH Foundation

...

Follow us on social media: 

Twitter / Facebook/and now: Instagram  

• Photos: First new Atlanta BeltLine section of 2024 has arrived (Urbanize Atlanta)