It’s time to make the Beltline even better
Events have overtaken us.
The vision of a rail loop is giving way to hard realities. Meanwhile, the actual Beltline has grown into the Emerald Necklace that many had hoped it would become.
It connects parks and neighborhoods along a splendid greenway. It builds communities and spurs economic growth. It’s a promenade, a refuge, a sculpture garden, an arboretum and an incubator. It’s Atlanta’s elongated public square.
At its core, though, the Beltline a wildly successful transportation corridor. Every day, some 5,000 people travel the Eastside Trail at any one particular point. And that popularity is spreading around the loop. The trail is so successful that the mix of pedestrians and wheeled vehicles is now a public safety concern.
We have an opportunity to leverage the Beltline’s success into something even better — into a unique amenity that will help to transform Atlanta into a city where you don’t need a car to get around.
“The Atlanta Beltline has helped attract more than $9 billion dollars in private development as of the end of 2023.”
— Atlanta Beltline Inc.
“When you love a place, you will behave differently and do things that you wouldn’t do if you didn’t love it. I think all of the visual, structural art on the BeltLine contributes to the sense of space and our collective character, like what we see ourselves as.”
— Chantelle Rytter, Atlanta Beltline Parade Founder
No. 2 among “the Best Urban Rail Trails in the United States”
— Momentum Magazine
We’re urging Atlanta Beltline Inc. to begin work on a fresh vision — one that leverages the Beltline’s incredible success and takes advantage of 21st century ideas.
Maybe, ordinary Atlantans can help by giving ABI a little nudge. Let’s start now by talking openly about ideas for a Beltline 2.0.
Better Atlanta Transit has made no secret of the direction our Advisory Board believes the Beltline should go. We want to see More MARTA money and any other resources available to go to transit that will truly make a difference in people’s lives — including transit to the Beltline. At the same time, we think it’s time for the ABI to acknowledge its own success in creating one of the nation’s finest “micromobility” corridors: Build a separate trail for pedestrians, including the mobility impaired.
Today
The right of way formerly reserved for train tracks is composed largely of meadows and trees, but also serves as a the setting for public art.
Tomorrow?
That right of way could be transformed into a separate path for pedestrians, while preserving most of the meadows and perhaps all of the trees in the former trail right of way.
What do you think?
How about sharing your ideas? What would you like to see for the Beltline to live its best life?
Your thoughts could riff off the “heels and wheels” (dual path) approach. Should there be room for autonomous pods, for example? Should the path be winding and natural, or straight and direct? Hard surface or soft?
Or you may want to suggest an entirely different direction?
We only ask one thing — let’s not rehash the outdated idea of converting the Beltline into a streetcar corridor. For two decades that proposal has been pushed, and it’s gotten us nowhere. It’s time to discuss a new vision for the Beltline corridor. Let’s start that today.
WALTER & KEVIN: STOP READING HERE
The rendering above is an artist’s vision of one option. Imagine a separate walking trail for walkers, including wheelchairs, dogs and children, through the meadows and woods along the right of way that had previously been reserved for rail.
The existing path could be widened to accommodate the growing number of wheeled vehicles that are providing real transportation for thousands of people.
The rendering above is an artist’s view of one possibility.
The debate over rail has taken all the oxygen out of the room.
