Your weekend away: the Beltline’s Southwest side
Please don’t tell me you have Beltline fatigue, kind readers, because I’ve finally made it over to the temporary trails on the West and Southwest side and I’m eager to sell you a travel package on it!
Of course all you have to do is bike across town, or take MARTA to the Ashby station. From there, it’s an easy half-mile ride to the start of the temporary wooded trail. And once there, you really won’t believe you’re still in the city.
I’ve covered this territory already, having walked part of this trail a year ago. But now, instead of a three-hour walk, you can take an hour-long bike ride (or less, depending on how far you go).
Just as on the Northeast side, which I’ve covered quite a bit, there is art to see. How about this piece?
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Beltline Walk #2 — West End to Reynoldstown
I took my second Beltline walk with Angel Poventud Friday, and was simultaneously encouraged by the possibilities I saw and humbled by the sheer scope of the project.
I think I said the same thing last time! Is it me, or does it just take a while to get your mind around the Beltline?
A sense of vicarious participation in the life of the city overtook me, as it had on previous Beltline walks and during my jog along the Freedom Parkway trail last week. There’s no question you see things you don’t see in the normal course of your life.
Like, if you don’t happen to live in West End, how often do you visit Adair Park (at left)? That was one of many parks we passed during the walk. We also traveled through various neighborhoods, including Peoplestown, Boulevard Heights, Ormewood Park, Glenwood Park (where one block off the Beltline, we stopped at Perk coffeehouse to re-fuel) and Reynoldstown.
And I dare you to tell me you’ve seen the Beltline treehouses!
Here’s a selection of the other sights I took in during the Beltline walk, which began near the West End MARTA station.
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Beltline to lay down mulch and open part of path
Fresh from my four-hour Beltline walk this morning, I’m pleased to say the Chief Beltline Volunteer (Angel Poventud) says the organization that’s building the trail and transit line will put mulch down on a portion of the path so that people can begin to use it.
Angel, who led a small group on a tour of the southwestern and southeastern stretches of the 22-mile rail corridor today, said the Beltline folks hope to have the mulch down and part of the path open by February or March of next year.
I would like to think I’m responsible for this turn of events because I suggested something similar in an earlier post!
But I would guess many people have suggested this very same idea to the Beltline folks.
Open it up while you work out the details so that people can begin to imagine the possibilities and incorporate the path into their lives.
As part of the project, mulch will cover portions of the western part of the trail, near West End, and portions of the northeastern section, from I-85 south to Dekalb Ave., said Ethan Davidson, an spokesman for the Beltline.
Davidson said the Beltline is still working out the details of the mulch plan and could not say when the project would begin or confirm when the path will open to the public.
“We are looking to open up stretches to the public as soon as possible,” he said.
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, for many people in Atlanta the Beltline is something imaginary or nebulous or at the very least hidden in plain sight.
I will be posting more comment and photos from this morning’s walk, which passed through the West End, Adair Park, Grant Park, Ormewood Park, Glenwood Park and Reynoldstown neighborhoods.
(The photo above shows a part of our group as we walked the part of the Beltline that crosses over Glenwood Ave. and through the Glenwood Park neighborhood.)
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