GA 400 trail Update: Buckhead CID shown trail experiences planned top to bottom along 4.5 miles

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The Buckhead Community Improvement Districtboard on Oct. 30 unanimously approved acceptance of a $750,000 GeorgiaTransportation Infrastructure Bank grant to go towards construction of the GA400 Greenway Trail, which is still set to begin by 2014.

According to Livable Buckhead Executive Director Denise Starling, whopresented a Power Point presentation to the CID board at its October meeting,35 percent of the funding for the trail has been identified and the traildesign will be completed by April or May.

Denise Starling describes the GA 400 Trail's five
experiences to members of the Buckhead CID board. 

Starling presented a vision of what might be—and what she is hoping willbe the final result—that would include five different trail experiences alongthe 4.5 mile route from Loridans Drive in north Buckhead to I-85 in southBuckhead.
She said 8,175 residents will be within a 10-minute walk to the trail,while the real startling figures is that 44,272 residents will be within a10-minute bike ride of the trail. 

But Starling cautioned that the two most criticalfactors for trail completion are raising the required funds and solidifying publicsupport. The presentation made to the CID board will be used to help with both,but primarily will be used to meet with neighborhood groups to garner residentsupport.
Starling’s presentation literally walked the CID board members along thepath from top to bottom with slides that included actual photos from theproposed trail’s surroundings to architectural renderings of what those areasmight look like after the trail work is completed.

Rendering shows the present sound barrier panels on the
wall over GA 400 replaced with some opaque panels.

She said trail will start with a PATH Foundation typical multi-use trailfor walking, biking, jogging and skateboarding on the north end at LoridansDrive and will run along GA 400 at the back yards of residents who live in thearea. Starling said Livable Buckhead is working with each of these homeownersindividually in terms of screening their properties from the trail.
She also pointed out that the plan is to replace some of the presentsound wall panels in the fencing along GA 400 with opaque panels to create amore pleasing visual experience for those on the trail.

Rendering shows the proposed suspended bridge for the
path in the area of the Mountain View park.

One of the area designs that Starling is most excited about—which alsohappens to be one of the most expensive to produce—is an elevated bridge trailthrough the planned park area at Mountain Way in north Buckhead.
From that visual, Starling took the board members to the second mostexpensive part of the project, which is the route along Lenox Loop Road, wherethe plan is to take a foot out of each traffic lane to widen the path andprovide landscaping.
From there the GA 400 trail would go through the Tower Place commercialdevelopment and then enter into the Peachtree Park neighborhood, where it wouldtake on a very residential corridor experience and would end up behind theEclipse de Luna restaurant at Miami Circle, where there would be a major trailhead.

This graphic shows some of the various environments that would be
created along the GA 400 Trail in open spaces and under rails and roads.

From there it would head south across Sidney Marcus Boulevard, andbehind The Dump furniture store toward a park at Lindbergh Road and then on tothe end at I-85 and the connection to the BeltLine trail in south Buckhead,where there is actually a wetlands with the potential for a park andobservation area for wildlife.
Starling told the CID board that the original cost estimate and budgetfor the trail was $10 million, but with the current plans it had escalated to $16million, mainly due to the cost of the bridge at Mountain View park area andthe improvements along Lenox Loop Road.

Graphic shows the present
proposed route for the
GA 400 Greenway Trail.

She indicated there was going to be some belt tightening necessary tomake the financing feasible.
Editor’s Note: Livable Buckhead has promised to post online the presentationmade to the Buckhead CID board, as well as a narrated video of thepresentation. BuckheadView will bring a link to those to our readers as soon asthey are posted.
Also, Livable Buckhead, the Buckhead CID and the Buckhead BusinessFoundation, a sister organization to the Buckhead Business Association, willhold an auction on the evening of Nov. 15 of the 21 decorated, 8-foot-tallBucks on the Street statues. The proceeds from the evening will go toward funding theGA 400 Trail and other green space initiatives in Buckhead.
The public is invited to attend the event, which will be held at thenewly renovated Estate on Piedmont special event facility (formerly Anthony’srestaurant). The cost is $100 per person, which is tax deductible. Forfurther information about the event and how to register to attend, go here.