A small but crucial connecting point that’s been in planning and construction phases for more than a dozen years is nearly complete where four eastside neighborhoods meet. 

According to Atlanta Beltline Inc., a new ramp linking the Eastside Trail to Ponce de Leon Avenue is on pace to finish construction in April, finally providing easy access between the Beltline’s most popular stretch and the bustling commercial corridor.

Plans call for a steel ramp, stairs, and railings at the northwestern corner of the Ponce-Beltline bridge, similar to Edgewood Avenue’s metal-ramp connection to the Eastside Trail where Old Fourth Ward meets Inman Park. (However, the Ponce ramp’s surface won’t be serrated metal, in order to spare dogs’ feet, Beltline officials have said.)

The goal is to create a more seamless, quicker, and ADA-accessible means of exiting the Beltline for Ponce’s shopping and eating options, and vice versa. 

The ramp’s wall construction continues, while columns for the elevated ramp structure and handrails will be installed between now and April, according to the Beltline’s February construction update. 

A layout of the Ponce ramp system, which will look similar to Edgewood Avenue’s metal-ramp connection to the Eastside Trail, as pictured above. Courtesy of Atlanta Beltline Inc.

Previous conditions heading east on the avenue near Ponce City Market. The Ponce-Beltline ramp is being installed at left. Google Maps

An enhanced pedestrian connection at Ponce has been part of the Eastside Trail’s design since it debuted in 2012. Previous plans to begin work in summer 2021 were delayed by a Georgia Department of Transportation review process. 

Meanwhile, the Ponce de Leon Avenue Streetscapes project next door—the conversion of a section of the busy street into a safer, more approachable thoroughfare for pedestrians and bicyclists—has wrapped major construction. 

The Beltline reports that bike lane resurfacing and extensions, sidewalk construction, striping, light-pole installation, traffic signal installation, and landscaping for the streetscapes overhaul have all now been completed. 

Bike lanes and new pedestrian and vehicular traffic lights, as seen in front of Ponce City Market as part of the Ponce de Leon Avenue Streetscapes project. Atlanta Beltline Inc.

Placement of the new ramp connection and a crosswalk near Ponce City Market's entrance. Courtesy of Atlanta Beltline Inc.

That project started construction in fall 2022 and covers just shy of .7 miles, between Boulevard and John Lewis Freedom Parkway. Popular destinations in between include Ponce City Market, Green’s, Whole Foods, CVS, and the Beltline. 

Ponce bike lanes were extended on both sides of the Beltline, up to the entrance of the Kroger in Poncey-Highland. But tight right-of-way constraints and existing traffic-lane configurations on that section of Ponce prohibited the in-street bike lanes from being fully extended to Freedom Parkway, Beltline planners have said.

Trees and new lighting stand in buffers between sidewalks and the bike lanes. Meanwhile, traffic signals were reconfigured at Boulevard, Glen Iris Drive, Midtown Place, and the entrance to Kroger and the 725 Ponce development, per Beltline officials.

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