Parks, plazas plan taking shape for Beltline-to-MARTA trail connector

Plans are coming into sharper focus for a relatively short but important Atlanta Beltline offshoot trail that will provide MARTA station connectivity, safer street crossings, and no shortage of green respites, according to designers. 

The Oakland City MARTA station + Murphy Connector Trail—or the “Oakland + Murphy Connector Trail” for short—is planned to branch off the Beltline and provide the 22-mile loop’s first direct link to a MARTA train station, beginning just south of the Lee + White district. 

The forked connector trail will span a total of 1.31 miles in Oakland City and Capitol View, extending off an access point near Allene Avenue, where the Westside and Southwest trails meet. 

The project has reached the 90-percent design mark and is expected to be submitted to the city for permitting this month, according to a recent progress report from Carley Rickles, design lead and landscape architect with Martin Rickles Studio.   

The connector trail will stand out with a number of plazas and public spaces being incorporated into designs—and the fact that 99 percent of it will be shaded with tree canopy, to include saved trees or newly planted native ones, as Rickles outlined during a meeting last week detailing numerous Beltline projects underway in Southwest Atlanta. 

Here’s a quick rundown of what’s to come: 

Rickles shared a rendering for what’s called “Murphy Plaza,” or a "nice oasis” within the city that will be the new trail’s northernmost point, between the Lifecycle Building Center and under-construction Oakland Exchange (formerly Cut Rate Box warehouse) project. Expect a tiered seating patio, bike parking, and lots of shade.  

“We really wanted to celebrate the confluence of the Beltline trail meeting back with the street [Murphy Avenue] and all these other exciting things around it,” Rickles noted.  

Just east of there, where Allene and Avon avenues meet, plans call for a linear park that will be “one of the first if not the first nature play landscape in the City of Atlanta, in the city’s park system,” per Rickles. 

Spanning about a block, that facet will have large and small gathering areas—each potentially rentable—with an emphasis on access to nature for all ages. 

Another trail component will count skyline views from what’s being called the “Dill Avenue Overlook.” That’s part of a plaza and upgraded street crosswalk that will meet recently installed bike lanes at Division Street and Allene Avenue. 

Other significant changes are planned where the connector trail will meet MARTA’s Oakland City station. 

Rickles said intersection upgrades have to balance the need for large trucks to travel through the area—on a popular route for kids and parents to walk to school, or commute via train. Plans for an underpass beneath MARTA’s tracks call for a protected bike lane with an eight-inch curb between pedestrians and bicyclists and cars, allowing for safer access to the train station entry. 

Additional changes could include “protected corners we’ve designed when you’re waiting for the light to change” at Dill Avenue and Campbellton Roads, pending Georgia Department of Transportation approval, per Rickles.

Rickles said construction documentation for the trail project and final designs are on pace to finish this fall, with construction slated for early 2027. 

Beltline officials have said the connector trail is scheduled to be open in mid-2028, with landscaping work continuing into the winter months of that year and early 2029.  

“All throughout the trail we’ve got green infrastructure, bioswales, increased biodiversity, preserved and increased [tree] canopy… just kind of designing with those ecologically considerate principles,” Rickles noted.  

The connector trail will be 12-feet wide with two-foot soft shoulders, with security cameras, lighting, storm drainage, and more components included, Beltline leaders have said. 

The spur project first came to light in October 2024, when Beltline officials opened the Request for Qualifications process to find qualified design and engineering firms. The broader goal is to provide mobility options and more equitable access from MARTA to the popular, growing multi-use trail loop—and vice versa. 

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