An artist’s rendering of the Atlanta Beltway, showing urban Atlanta at the center.
I thought of Belmont when reading today’s New York Times had a fascinating story on the Atlanta Beltline, a proposed 22 mile bike path that will circle Atlanta’s urban core and which, judging from the article, people are going bonkers over.
From the New York Times:
Could this traffic-clogged Southern city, long derided as the epitome of suburban sprawl, really be discovering its walkable, bike-friendly, density-embracing, streetcar-riding, human-scale soul?
The answer is evident in the outpouring of affection that residents here have showered on the Atlanta BeltLine, which aims to convert 22 miles of mostly disused railway beds circling the city’s urban core into a biking and pedestrian loop, a new streetcar line, and a staggeringly ambitious engine of urban revitalization.
Even though just a small fraction of the loop trail has been completed, Atlantans, in one of the purer expressions of America’s newly rekindled romance with city life, have already passionately embraced the project. And like any budding romance, it is full of high hopes — for an Atlanta that is more racially integrated, less congested and, in a change refreshing to many here, more focused on improving the lives of residents rather than just projecting a glittering New South image to the rest of the world.
It’s not just Atlantans who see something that is potentially transformative.“It’s the most important rail-transit project that’s been proposed in the country, possibly in the world,” said Christopher B. Leinberger of the George Washington University School of Business, who follows urban redesign projects and has for years called Atlanta “the poster child of sprawl.”
Of course calling this ambitious project the “most important rail transit project” in the world is probably a stretch. By the time it’s built, China will likely have added hundreds if not thousands of miles of rail to its infrastructure. Still, an extensive bike network in a city whose name is synonymous with suburban sprawl and soul crushing car commutes is certainly a sign of what’s to come.
More than 30,000 people have taken a three-hour bus tour of the proposed loop; the answer to “Have you taken the tour?” has become a kind of litmus test of Atlanta civic pride.
I think the excitement over this project is indicative of the hunger for folks all over the country – and not just in liberal bastions like Massachusetts- for more healthy, convenient and environmentally friendly infrastructure. With a meeting next week to update the town on Belmont’s own bike path – a future link in the Massachusetts Rail Trail – that’s a message to keep in mind.
Source: A Glorified Sidewalk, and the Path to Transform Atlanta – The New York Times