The snaking strip of concrete might be small, but the impact is already mighty, according to those who built it.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens is expected to lead the official ribbon-cutting Saturday for a PATH Foundation project called the Northside Underpass in Buckhead.
The .1-mile connector provides a safe route, at last, between two major Atlanta greenspaces: Bobby Jones Golf Course, which is now encircled by PATH trail offshoots of the BeltLine’s Northside Trail, and Atlanta Memorial Park.
Although PATH has been building trails around Atlanta and the Southeast for more than 30 years, longtime PATH project manager Pete Pellegrini called the Northside Underpass “probably one of the most impactful projects” the agency has ever done.
“It’s small, but it’s got a big punch,” Pellegrini said in a PATH announcement, “and the big punch is that we’re linking two major greenspaces that people on a regular basis tap into."
Patrons of the newly installed path beneath a busy north-south thoroughfare in Buckhead. Atlanta Memorial Park Conservancy
As voting day for the Moving Atlanta Forward bond and TSPLOST package nears next week, PATH officials stressed the entire $1.22 million required to build the Northside Underpass came from the city’s Renew Atlanta Bond Program Local Council District Allocation.
Dickens is expected to join PATH and city leaders, the Atlanta Memorial Park Conservancy, and other community partners at Saturday’s event where Northside Drive meets Wesley Drive.
PATH has identified and advocated for $28 million that would go toward 11 trail projects—roughly 10 miles, collectively—included on the Moving Atlanta Forward project list, to be decided during next week’s primary election.
Greta deMayo, PATH’s executive director, recently told Urbanize Atlanta that if voters approve the bond and TSPLOST funding, her agency will work alongside ATLDOT to implement each of them over the next five years, while continuing to raise philanthropic support.
• Recent Buckhead news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)
