This past weekend I took a little walk to the back side of Ansley mall out of curiosity and saw the creek and the railroad where the proposed beltline will pass. I thought to myself that this creek next to the beltline is really going to open up possibilities. They will be able to put up several pedestrian crossing bridges along that creek to link the beltline with whatever redevelopment they choose for ansley and other areas. I think that people will begin to have greater appreciation for Atlanta's creek system, which has a lot of potential. There are several beautiful creeks in in-town Atlanta. I have walked a little of the one down near the Armour drive design district, which is a tributary to Peachtree Creek I believe. Heck with all the money in this town they could even put up wooden elevated walkways along parts of the creek that aren't feasible for flat trails along the embankment. It's unfortunate that this hasn't already been done. This is a city of 5 million people, yet I can go back to my home town in Alabama (Huntsville) and there are miles and miles of creekside walkways (my dad is the city planner there and helped with that). It seems to me that this Beltline project should be thought out in phases. 1st phase would be to just build asphalt walkways, and then years down the road worry about trains. There are hundreds of thousands of people in Atlanta who would bike that trail. Start with a cheapo (4" thick) 10' wide walkway and keep it simple.
And don't charge $3 to park like the foolish state does with the Chattahoochee trails. Most parks in this country aren't that absurd.
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