Posted on 12/03/2005 9:15:53 PM PST by Lorianne
The sprawling metropolis always has given park proponents a headache. Founded as a railroad hub, the city has no ocean, no mountains and no major body of water to serve as a built-in foundation for a park system.
One of the only opportunities for adding green space is manmade - the mostly unused railroad tracks that ring the city, dotted with rundown warehouses and abandoned depots.
It is precisely those tracks that city planners and green groups propose to use in an ambitious $2.1 billion plan to build a 22-mile verdant loop of parks, paths and transit around the city that would link 45 neighborhoods.
“Atlanta, which was for many years known as the poster-child for sprawl, is becoming a national leader in demonstrating there are cost-effective, profitable alternatives,” said Ed McMahon, a senior resident fellow of the Urban Land Institute.
Dubbed the Beltline Project, the plan could propel Atlanta from the bottom of the pack of major cities in green space to square in the middle, while at the same time generating economic development by linking together affluent and struggling, isolated neighborhoods.
Urban planning experts are closely watching how the project plays out, saying it could serve as a blueprint for so-called smart growth developments across the country.
The Atlanta project comes as other urban centers champion efforts to turn out-of-use railway lines into parks.
New York's High Line project would turn an abandoned 1.45-mile stretch of elevated rail line in Manhattan into a towering trail. A similar proposal in Chicago would convert a 20-foot-high freight railroad line into an oasis for walkers and bike riders. Both projects seem to be inspired by a world-renowned project in Paris in the 1990s that turned a rail viaduct into a lush 3-mile pedestrian walkway.
More than 13,000 miles of rail-trails dot the nation and 14,000 miles of additional lines are in the works, said Katie Magers, spokeswoman for the Rails to Trails Conservancy, a Washington-based nonprofit.
“They're everywhere,” she said. “We're seeing a lot more creative use of rail lines.”
To raise most of the $2.1 billion needed to pay for the project, the City Council this month approved a special tax district this month that could raise $1.7 billion to fund the project's infrastructure.
The Fulton County Commission and Atlanta school board also are expected in the coming weeks to cast crucial votes on whether to help fund the project.
Even before the City Council's vote, the national conservation group Trust for Public Land began working to secure about 70 acres of land along the route, preserving at least some space as developers eagerly snatch up other open tracts. The private group has spent as much as $1 million an acre to lock up the land.
Jim Langford, director for the state chapter of the conservation group, said it is essential to build a “green infrastructure” for a region that is home to about 4.7 million people and that expects 2.3 million more in the next 20 years.
For months, the project enjoyed glowing praise around the city, but some critics have made headway.
A panel of transportation experts raised concerns when it found that isolated parts of the loop would not have the riders to support trains, trolleys or whatever transit options are proposed.
Neighborhood groups in the well-to-do northeastern portion of the loop have criticized high-rise apartment proposals that would be a dramatic change in a landscape of mostly single-family homes.
In other neighborhoods, some residents worry the Beltline project is a development tool aimed at building housing near the rich but ignoring the poor.
However, these fears could be put to rest if the city provides investors tax incentives to encourage development, said Michael Meyer, a transportation consultant professor at Georgia Tech.
Meyer is among a group of academics who argue that the project is a once-in-a-generation chance to drive Atlanta's growth for decades and provide a blueprint for the revitalization of cities across the globe.
“It's almost as important as Hartsfield Airport and the freeway system,” Meyer said, referring to the city's airport - the busiest in the world. “It could have that big of an impact.”
Re: That last.
That's why I said "I'm sure there will be muggers," which implies muggees.
You can't protect *all* the bliss-ninnies living in Condition White.
2 billion bucks to spend in the hands of the Atlanta city planners? Yeah, great idea...
The "rails-to-trails" idea is a great one. It's a terrific way to utilize railway right-of-ways that have fallen into disuse and disrepair.
Here in Massachuetts, the concept has really taken off and I use these trails all the time for my hiking. There is a bike path that runs from Concord, MA all the way to Cambridge (just outside downtown Boston). Another trail runs from Ayer to New Hampshire that I used frequently. And there are many others. Now they are working on a trail that will link my hometown to these two trails and eventually, I'll be able to hike or bike into downtown Boston from my sleepy bedroom community 30 miles away without having to deal with all the urban traffic.
These trails are all pedestrian friendly and are much needed for typically our urban areas are very dangerous for pedestrians and bikers.
I hope to see an interconnected network of trails throughout our country to the point where one can bike or hike to just about anywhere.
I believe you're right. That sounds like something Chris Rock would say.
Have you seen his video "How not to get your a$$ kicked by the police" ? Very funny, very real, and not at all PC.
If it was my land involved, I sure would. But thank the Lord, we have no railroad tracks on our land -- just deer, turkey, bass, catfish, birds, trees and rocks. We are fortunate.
Carolyn
"It is precisely those tracks that city planners and green groups propose to use in an ambitious $2.1 billion plan to build a 22-mile verdant loop of parks, paths and transit around the city that would link 45 neighborhoods."
Response: A picture postcard of an America that once was i.e. vibrant, alive, productive compared to what is and what we are becoming i.e. non-productive, building with borrowed funds .
oh goody....a target rich environment for goblins
No, it depends on each situation, many railroads did own their ROW free and clear. And even if there were 100-150 year old provisions to revert the land back to the original owners, the states still have the option of voided that through eminent domain. Far different than taking productive land through ED, unless the landowner had been receiving royalties from the RR (very rare.) The states can usually successfully argue that converting to a recreation trail fits under the "Health, Safety, and Welfare" provision, as walking/biking/skating on a public trail ostensibly promotes good health.
That's precisely the argument they used successfully in Missouri.
Carolyn
Except I can't think of a single instance where they didn't fight tooth and nail against converting those ROW back to any of the needs they claim they are preserving the trail for, such as transit. That line seems to be just a ruse to get support and funding for recreation trails.
"You can't protect *all* the bliss-ninnies living in Condition White."
Maybe squad-sized patrols after dark could reduce the mugger population.
I don't mean turkeys diddy-bopping along talking and tripping over everthing. I mean properly armed, equipped, and trained men.
Nobody is bitching about high taxes in Trail World? It is a great idea if the land rightfully belongs to the entity proposing the trail and a super weighted majority of the tax payers assess themselves to improve and maintain the trails.
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