The Atlanta BeltLine Has a Long Way to Go

In the introduction to his new book, City on the Verge: Atlanta and the Fight for America’s Urban Future, Mark Pendergrast writes that “Atlanta is on the brink of either tremendous birth or inexorable decline.” Having lived in Atlanta for several years, I’ve become familiar with the forces at work here that suggest the latter.

The city’s structural challenges are immense. Atlanta leads the nation in both income inequality and sprawl. Its car-choked roads and highways rank among the very worst in the world, and when things go awry—as when Atlanta receives two inches of snow, or a highway bridge collapses—the city’s infrastructure becomes a national laughingstock. Atlanta’s public transportation system, MARTA, has long been underfunded and unloved. Relatedly, Atlantans are among the least healthy American urbanites when it comes to exercise: A recent study found that 79 percent of city residents “do not meet minimum recommended physical activity guidelines.”

Currently, however, Atlanta is undertaking one of the nation’s most ambitious urban redevelopment programs. The Atlanta BeltLine—born of a 1999 master’s thesis by a former Georgia Tech architecture student named Ryan Gravel—will eventually be 22-mile multi-use path connecting 45 neighborhoods. It promises to convert a ring of mostly abandoned railroad tracks into a chain of interconnected parks and pathways, which will attract bars, shops, restaurants, and new housing all the way. Though it’s been dubbed “a glorified sidewalk” in the New York Times, the BeltLine may eventually feature an adjacent streetcar or light railway line. Many locals hope that the $4.8 billion project could be a game changer for Atlanta.