The Atlanta Beltline reached a historic milestone on June 12 with the opening of Southside Trail Segments 2 and 3, creating 16.7 miles of continuous mainline trail, nearly 17 miles, for the first time in the project’s history and connecting 36 neighborhoods across the city.
The newly opened 1.9-mile stretch extends from McDaniel Street at University Avenue near Pittsburgh Yards to Boulevard in southeast Atlanta, creating a nearly 17-mile U-shaped mainline trail that connects the Beltline’s northwest, westside, southside, eastside and northeast corridors. The remaining northwest and northside sections are expected to be completed before 2030, closing the full 22-mile loop.
Hundreds of participants, including elected officials, community members and project partners gathered at Pittsburgh Yards on Friday afternoon to celebrate a project years in the making.
“This is a long time coming,” said Atlanta Beltline President and CEO Clyde Higgs. “Technically, this is almost a two-mile stretch of new mainline Beltline. Spiritually and emotionally what this is is connectivity, access to opportunity for all of Atlanta.”
The opening means residents can now travel nearly 17 uninterrupted miles by foot or bicycle across much of the city, connecting neighborhoods with parks, schools, jobs and businesses through a dedicated trail system.
Higgs said the project represents more than new infrastructure.
“This is an opportunity for jobs, safe routes to schools and all things that we care about from a quality-of-life perspective,” he said. “If you want to ride a bike to school, to a medical facility, to your job or home, you’ll be able to do that on 17 continuous miles of the Atlanta Beltline.”
For many residents, the milestone fulfilled a promise they had waited years to see realized.
“We’ve been waitin’ a long time,” said Britton Edwards, a Pittsburgh resident and Chief Operating Officer of Atlanta Way 2.0.
Edwards’ sentiment echoed Higgs’ remarks that the opening had been “a long time coming,” underscoring the anticipation many southside residents felt as the project finally connected long-separated sections of the trail.
Mayor Andre Dickens called the opening a transformative moment for Atlanta, noting that the Southside Connection now unites portions of the city that had developed separately for years.
“As a native of Atlanta, we’ve had an east side and a west side,” Dickens said. “Today, the east side and the west side [are] being connected by the south side. The south side is bringing us together in a very meaningful way.”
Dickens said neighborhoods including Pittsburgh, Peoplestown, South Atlanta, and Chosewood now have stronger connections to the broader Beltline network, creating greater mobility and access to opportunity.
The Atlanta Beltline traces its origins to a 1999 master’s thesis by Georgia Tech graduate student Ryan Gravel, who envisioned transforming a network of abandoned freight rail corridors into a 22-mile loop of trails, transit and parks connecting neighborhoods around the city’s urban core. More than two decades later, the project has become one of the nation’s largest urban redevelopment efforts.
Friday’s ribbon cutting also comes as Atlanta welcomes visitors from around the world for the FIFA World Cup, giving residents and tourists expanded access to neighborhoods across the city through the Beltline trail system.
“This is connectivity. This is opportunity,” Higgs said. “This is Atlanta through and through.”
Leave a comment