Buckhead is installing an outdoor gym—under a freeway

Atlanta’s legions of post-pandemic, outdoor-gym enthusiasts know the biggest detriment to getting in a good open-air workout isn’t stifling heat or chilly wind—it’s rain.

A new workout station in Buckhead is using existing infrastructure to help solve that.

The Old Ivy Fitness Tunnel, a project led by quality-of-life nonprofit Livable Buckhead, is taking shape as part of the growing PATH400 project—Buckhead’s multipurpose, more linear answer to the Atlanta Beltline. The underpass gym will use Ga. Highway 400 travel lanes as a canopy (and shade structure) where Old Ivy Road meets the freeway.

The project marks the first fitness installation along PATH400—and the first outdoor gym at any Buckhead park.

Livable Buckhead

Livable Buckhead reports that concrete has been poured for the project as six pieces of multigenerational fitness equipment (think: a cross-country ski machine, chest press, leg extension, lateral pull, vertical press, and other pieces) are en route.

A $40,000 grant from Park Pride is footing the bill.

Denise Starling, Livable Buckhead executive director, said the PATH400 fitness pitstop has long been part of plans for the broader Old Ivy Park next door. It’s designed to be accessible for both older adults and people with physical disabilities.

No ponchos required.

Livable Buckhead