 The Edgewood Street bridge over the Atlanta BeltLine looking north. (Photos by Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. and Rob Felt.) |
The BeltLine is changing the face of Atlanta.
What was once an old 22-mile stretch of rail corridor circling the city is now a vibrant park system packed with pedestrians, bicyclists, art installations — life, really. It’s spurring all kinds of development along its route.
And the idea came from a Georgia Tech master’s thesis.
It’s impact is the subject an in-depth feature on the Georgia Tech homepage and in the Institute’s News Center.
“I look forward to the next couple of sections of the trail — Westside and Southwest — opening,” said Kari Watkins, a School of Civil and Environmental Engineering assistant professor and a member of the BeltLine’s technical advisory committee. “As it does, we’re going to see more people using it as a transportation corridor, not just a recreational corridor.”
She’s especially excited about plans to include a streetcar along the BeltLine corridor.
“Having a streetcar network that connects into the city and around the Beltline will help so much without having to drag your car out every time you want to get from point A to point B,” she said. “And the majority of those biking would prefer to be on a trail instead of navigating treacherous city streets.”