DUNWOODY, Ga. — Paths and trails throughout Dunwoody remain a hot-button issue with residents.
Last May, the Dunwoody City Council approved a Trail Master Plan based on months of public input sessions and collaboration with the PATH Foundation, a Metro Atlanta nonprofit committed to increasing greenway space.
The Trail Master Plan includes 68.7 miles of multi-use walking and biking trails connecting countless Dunwoody neighborhoods, nine city parks, 11 schools, seven shopping centers and two MARTA stations.
The plan calls for dividing Dunwoody into four sections; North, West, Central and East. It breaks down how the construction of side paths, raised one-way cycle tracks and traffic calming measures on existing streets might impact each area.
Public Works Director Michael Smith said his department had been developing a sidepath on Tilly Mill Road before the Trail Master Plan was adopted.
“The Trail Master Plan is kind of a guiding document at this point,” Smith said. “It has the path on the east side of Tilly Mill, so that’s the plan.”
Before approval of the Trail Master Plan, the City Council was presented with two options for the 12-foot-wide multi-use path along Tilly Mill Road, one on the east side of the roadway, the other on the west. Estimated costs for the west side option came in at $3.5 million. The east side option was estimated at $4.2 million.
Smith said the City Council supported the east side proposal and that city staff endorsed the idea because more residents could access the path without crossing a major roadway and there is less traffic from driveways and side streets.
Smith also said there are more utilities on the west side, which would complicate planting trees as a street buffer.
Still, the east side option requires temporary easements or rights-of-way from up to 20 properties.
Full-scale construction…
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