Livable Buckhead presents ‘top-to-bottom’ update on GA 400 trail to Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods

Livable Buckhead Executive Director Denise Starling and Carlos Perez of ACOM consulting firm presented a “top to bottom” update on the status of the 5.2 mile GA 400 Trail to the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods Thursday night, stating the design is now 30 percent complete.  

Livable Buckhead Executive Director Denise Starling explains GA 400 Trail.

Calling the trail “the spine that connects the whole broader park system together,” in Atlanta City Council District 7, Starling said another segment of the design work is almost done—which will make the plan 60 percent complete.

About 45-50 percent of the estimated $10 million estimated cost has been banked, according to Starling, and a capital campaign will begin this year to raise the rest.

The GA 400 Trail route

Starling explained that the GA 400 trail is the backbone of Livable Buckhead’s plan to increase park, tails and greenspace in the community by 106.6 acres through a plan called the Buckhead Collection.  

Starling said, “The trail is mostly within land already in public ownership,” but not presently being utilized—such as GA 400 right-of-way.  “A project like this would never get done if that were not the case,” she added. “It would be too expensive to have done.” 

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), which owns much of the land where the 5.2-mile trail will be placed, approved the construction design plan this week, she said. 

The trail actually runs from Loridans Drive in North Buckhead south through the commercial district and on down to the area off Piedmont Road where the Rollins company’s headquarters is located and where it will eventually connect to the BeltLine trail.

Starling expects construction of the trail to begin in the first quarter of next year and she estimated it will take five years to complete. There are five distinct sections to the trail and it likely will be built in sections according to those design segments.

On the north end near Loridans Drive, GDOT has approved
replacing some of the panels in the sound barriers with
panels that will allow looking through the barrier. 

She said the first segment likely will be from Lenox Lenox Road to North Ivy, because it is all on GDOT land and will be a visible portion that can help sell the rest of the trail sections to the neighborhoods.

The above graphic was part of a presentation to the Buckhead Community
Improvement District last October. The CID is a major investor in the trail.

Safety and security is the primary concern of the trail, Starling said, and trail lighting is a big debate. “It is going to be open from dawn until dusk like other parks,” she said. “Putting lights encourages use at night. We don’t want that.” 

Starling said she personally does not want cameras on the trail because “trails don’t bring crime.” However, the community clearly said cameras are wanted, and Livable Buckhead is working with IronSky and the police department to implement them.

“We want to figure out how to do them and be cost effective, in key areas but don’t make it feel like a prison yard,” she said. “We are looking at 9-1-1 phones as well.” She said there will be mile markers on the trail so police can find any possible victims quickly. 

“There are also landscape design principles where you don’t do things to create corners for people to hide around,” she said. “Of course, the key thing to keeping it same is using it.”

This graphic also was part of the October presentation to the CID board. 

Starling explained to the Council of Neighborhoods audience that the trail plan started with a committee that drew up six primary design principles: Safe & Secure, environmentally responsive, economically beneficial, sense of place/identity, foster sense of community and deliver measurable results.

She said after 30 percent of the design was completed she and the consultants went back to the community to show what was being proposed. “We found we have satisfied most of the concerns,” she added.

Carlos Perez during his part of the
presentation on Thursday night. 

Perez took the audience on a top-to-bottom visual trek of the trail, pointing out at each segment the proposed “basic option” and a wish-list “enhanced option.” Even the current basic options may cost more than the estimated $10 million. But Starling and Perez know the enhanced options will cost much more.

Livable Buckhead may seek naming sponsors for some of the special elements they would like to see implemented, such as bridge (similar to the one at the Botanical Gardens) con connect the walkway from the Mountain Way road area.

The timeline calls for completion of the design by April or May of this year, as well as right-of-way acquisition this year, and beginning construction of the first phase in 2014.  One hang-up she predicted is that MARTA is not allowed to donate land. It has to be purchased and there is a segment of the trail south of Lenox Square and near Miami Circle that MARTA owns.

Starling said no public federal dollars are being used for this project…it will be all state, local and private money. And, she said there are grants available for some parts of the project.

In response to a question about who will maintain the trail, Starling said that the PATH Foundation, which will be constructing the trail, is in the process right now of getting an agreement with the city of Atlanta to maintain all paths in the city. 

To view the GA 400 Trail Power Point presentation that Starling made to the Buckhead CID on Oct. 30, click here.