Atlanta Beltline
The Atlanta Beltline is long multi-use trail on a former railway corridor which encircles the core of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta Beltline is designed to reconnect neighborhoods and communities historically divided and marginalized by infrastructure, improve transportation, add green space, promote redevelopment, create and preserve affordable housing, and showcase arts and culture. The project is in varying stages of development, with several mainline and spur trails complete. Since the passage of the More MARTA sales tax in 2016, construction of the light rail streetcar system is overseen by MARTA in close partnership with Atlanta Beltline, Inc.
The Beltline will be connected to MARTA's first bus rapid transit line. The line is currently under construction and is scheduled to be completed in 2025 with revenue service beginning in late 2025. The line will run from downtown Atlanta, through Summerhill, and end at the Beltline. The BRT line named the "MARTA Rapid Summerhill", will utilize new articulated electric buses.
History and concept
As railroad rights-of-way
The name "Beltline" and its development is connected to Atlanta's historical association with railroads. During post-Civil War reconstruction, Atlanta began to industrialize, unlike most of the South. Those new factory and other industrial jobs attracted workers to Atlanta, rapidly increasing the city's population. Since both travelers and industry regularly utilized railroads, the increased demand on the existing railroad infrastructure created the need for additional rail infrastructure. In response, a "belt" of railway was proposed to bypass the busy downtown railway system and alleviate rail congestion.After roughly 30 years of development, the "belt" of railway around Atlanta was realized. The railway belt was constructed from four separate railway segments, each owned and operated by different railway companies. In chronological order, the four original belt railway lines were:
- Atlanta and Richmond Air-Line Railway: this line was constructed in the 1870s and became defunct during the 1990s. Coming down from the northeastern corner of Ansley Golf Club, passing alongside Piedmont Park and Ponce City Market, and terminating in the Inman Park neighborhood at the Hulsey Yard, this line spans the Beltline's Northeast and Eastside Trails.
- Seaboard Air Line Railroad: this line was completed in 1892 and is still in operation under CSX. Starting immediately east of the Inman Yard and winding east-by-northeast under I-75, Peachtree Road, and I-85, eventually continuing toward Emory University, this line guides the Beltline's Northwest and Northside Trails. In contrast to the other three railroad rights-of-way comprising the Beltline, as this line is still actively used by railroad traffic, the Northwest and Northside Trails will follow a new route.
- Atlanta & West Point Belt Line Railroad: this line was built in 1899 and became defunct in May 2014. Heading south from the Hulsey Yard in the Oakland City neighborhood and following a southwesterly arc, passing beneath I-75/I-85, and connecting to the tracks along Lee Street SW/U.S. Highway 29, this line spans the Southeast and Southside Trails.
- Louisville & Nashville Railroad Belt Line: though historical documentation is limited, this line was operating in 1902 and is believed to have become defunct in the mid-1980s. Heading south from the Inman Yard, running past Washington Park, passing beneath I-20, turning southeast through the West End warehouse district, under Lee Street SW/U.S. Highway 29, and connecting to the Atlanta & West Point Belt Line Railroad, this line spans the Southwest and Westside Trails.
Though not considered a "belt line" railroad, the Beltline also uses right-of-way from the former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad for the Westside Connector Trail and the northernmost portion of Segment 4 of the Westside Trail.
Concept for transformation
The idea to turn the rail corridors into a ring of trails and parks originated in a 1991 proposal by the Georgia Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. In 1993, a similar plan was promoted by city planner Alycen Whiddon and adopted Atlanta City Council as part of the city's 15-year Parks, Open Space and Greenway Trails.In his 1999 master's degree thesis, Georgia Tech dual architectural & city planning student Ryan Gravel, proposed a version of the project that included fixed-rail transit without trail or parks. in 2000, while working for an Atlanta architectural firm, Gravel and two of his colleagues, Mark Arnold and Sarah Edgens, summarized his thesis added in the earlier trails and parks concept, and mailed copies to two dozen influential Atlantans. Cathy Woolard, then a City Council member, was an early supporter. She, Gravel, Arnold, and Edgens spent the next several months promoting the idea of the Beltline to neighborhood groups, and Atlanta business and civic leaders. To advocate for the project, they formed the non-profit Friends of the Belt Line.
Eventually, Woolard, by then City Council president, convinced Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin, to support the idea. But a series of studies of the idea, notable the Trust for Public Lands' "Beltline Emerald Necklace" report, concluded that trails, greenways, affordable housing and zoning changes should be tackled before Gravel's proposed rail line. Ultimately, in 2005, Atlanta City Council adopted "Beltline Redevelopment Plan," which was prepared by the Atlanta Development Authority, reflected these priorities.
The railroad tracks and rights-of-way were owned mostly by CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, and the Georgia Department of Transportation. Developer Wayne Mason had purchased most of the NS portion, in anticipation of the Beltline, but later sold it after conflict with the city.
The total length will be, running about on either side of Atlanta's elongated central business district. It is planned to include a neighborhood-serving transit system ; footpaths, including bicycling, rollerskating, and walking; and the redevelopment of some. The project is included in the 25-year Mobility 2030 plan of the Atlanta Regional Commission for improving transit. As of 2014, the project's planners estimated they had 17 years left before the project would be completed, and no light-rail lines had yet been built.
File:Beltline eastside trail construction may 2012 1 o4w atlanta.JPG|thumb|Beltline Eastside Trail under construction in the Old Fourth Ward, May 2012
In 2005 the Atlanta Beltline Partnership was formed and in 2006 Atlanta Beltline, Inc. was formed and work began to develop the project.
Connecting the Comet
In September 2019 the James M. Cox Foundation gave $6 million to the PATH Foundation which will connect the Silver Comet Trail to The Atlanta Beltline which is expected to be completed by 2022.In May 2022, the James M. Cox foundation announced a $30 million pledge to the PATH Foundation in support of the Northwest Beltline trails project. This donation combined with previous gifts ensured that the funding is now in place to complete the full trail corridor by 2030.
Route and trails
The Beltline will feature a continuous path encircling the central part of the city, generally following the old railroad right of way, but departing from it in several areas along the northwest portion of the route. In total, of multi-use paths are to be built, including spur trails connecting to neighborhoods. The Beltline connects 45 diverse neighborhoods, some of which are Atlanta's most underserved parks. The PATH Foundation, which has many years of experience building such trails in the Atlanta area, is a partner in the development of this portion of the system.As of mid-2024, there are almost of completed mainline trail and of connector trails.