The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced the award of a $25 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant to the City of Atlanta and Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. The funds will be used for the construction of a 2.2-mile network of multi-use trails in northeast Atlanta between the Armour/Ottley and Lindbergh areas. This will be the first time the Atlanta BeltLine trail will connect to a MARTA transit station (at Lindbergh Center), fulfilling the vision to connect with the region’s larger transportation network. It will also knit together the regional trail network, affordable housing, and job centers across a complex series of transportation barriers. Without securing this grant, the construction of these vitally important connector trails was uncertain.
“The Northeast segment of the BeltLine is a huge undertaking, but Atlanta does big and we do it well—and we do it together,” said Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens. “Thanks to Senator Ossoff, Senator Warnock, Congresswoman Williams and the Biden Administration, Atlanta now has $25 million in funding—in addition to millions in infrastructure dollars already delivered—for utility, stormwater, accessibility and safety infrastructure for Segment 3 and surrounding connectors.”
Unlike most of the BeltLine corridor, this portion of the Northeast Trail does not follow abandoned railroad lines. It’s also unique in metro Atlanta as the only place where an interstate, state roads and highways, regional rail and bus, and several regional trails converge. The new BeltLine trail segments will provide safe crossings of existing MARTA heavy rail, Norfolk Southern and CSX freight rail, state highway, and Peachtree Creek. The project will provide pedestrian and cyclist access between the Atlanta BeltLine mainline trail, the Armour/Ottley business district, major employers along Piedmont Road, multi-family residential developments, and major regional…
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