After years of planning and discussion, Atlanta’s trek toward the famed Silver Comet Trail has officially begun.
Construction is underway on the first segment of what’s called the Silver Comet Connector, a multi-use trail link that will extend from Atlanta’s postindustrial Upper Westside district toward Cobb County and the 61.5-mile Silver Comet’s Georgia component.
The first section, the Woodall Rail Trail, will follow Woodall Creek—a tributary to Peachtree Creek—through 10 acres of preserved forest land in a part of town exploding with residential development, officials tell Urbanize Atlanta.
At its southernmost point, the Woodall Rail Trail will begin at a future connection with the BeltLine’s Northwest Trail, where Ellsworth Industrial Boulevard meets Elaine Avenue.
From there, it will travel north to the intersection of Chattahoochee Avenue and Chattahoochee Row at The Works, an adaptive-reuse shopping, food, and nightlife destination in Underwood Hills. (Along the way, the trail will pass just to the west of Topgolf Atlanta, or essentially behind the facility).
Courtesy of PATH Foundation/Upper Westside CID
The goal with the first section of the Silver Comet Connector, a project led by the PATH Foundation, is to preserve the forest and install a safe passage for walking and biking in a part of Atlanta known for lacking sidewalks and parks, according to project heads.
The Woodall Rail Trail will wind through sections of abandoned rail spurs—once part of a huge industrial network—and follow banks of the previously neglected creek. The Upper Westside Community Improvement District has partnered with the city’s Department of Watershed Management to design a bioswale—a vegetated area with special plants and soils—to capture and help clean runoff water from nearby streets before it enters the creek. A Georgia Department of Natural Resources grant helped fund that facet.
Partners on the trail project—PATH…
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