A busy and potentially historic month for the Atlanta Beltline (following launch of its controversial, autonomous shuttle system pilot and a sizable commercial real estate purchase) is set to continue this week.  

Should a ribbon-cutting and formal ceremony move forward as scheduled Friday afternoon (unlike MARTA's planned CQ400 train launch Thursday), Beltline leadership and Mayor Andre Dickens’ office will officially have made good on a promise from early 2024 to fast-track construction and open the full, connective Southside Trail prior to 2026 FIFA World Cup matches in Atlanta.  

Opening the 1.9-mile Southside Trail—Segments 2 and 3 on Friday would create what project leaders have dubbed “the U.” That’s nearly 17 miles (16.7 miles technically) of the continuous, mainline Beltline loop. 

Police guards have been posted for weeks at future trail entrances, as seen here along Boulevard on Sunday. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

The U will link together seven different sections of the 22-mile Beltline oval—the Northwest, Westside, Southwest, Southside, Southeast, Eastside, and Northeast corridors—and provide a connection to 36 different neighborhoods and numerous Atlanta Public Schools facilities, per officials. 

Only relatively small trail gaps in and near Buckhead remain to be finished. 

The Beltline trail's long construction process, at times, has taken its lumps over the past 15 years. But people-friendly, urban infrastructure on this scale could make both longtime Beltline observers and newly arrived Atlanta transplants quake with excitement. 

Beltline Southside Trail Segments 2 and 3 (highlighted in blue) are the final missing links for a massive "U" of trails that covers much of intown. Atlanta Beltline Inc.

Once the gates come down Friday—just three days before the opening World Cup match downtown—the final Southside Trail section will stretch from Boulevard (just south of Zoo Atlanta) west to McDaniel Street at University Avenue, next to the Pittsburgh Yards complex.  

Connecting the Beltline to Mercedes-Benz Stadium and downtown soccer action is the 1.6-mile Westside Beltline Connector, a spoke between the Westside Trail and the Georgia World Congress Center area. 

Where the final Southside Trail section to be constructed meets Boulevard. Middle Street Partners’ The Boulevard at Grant Park apartment community—completed three years ago in anticipation of Beltline access—is shown at right. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Southside Trail construction was funded with state, local, and philanthropic money, alongside more than $20 million in federal contributions Beltline leaders called “catalytic” in a recent announcement.  

For perspective, have a look at our photo essay from 2018 showing the state of Southside/Southeast Trail corridors before the Beltline started work on interim trails. We've come a long way, ATL. 

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