The Atlanta BeltLine marked a long-anticipated milestone Wednesday afternoon when Westside Trail–Segment 4 opened to the public, closing the last gap on the Westside corridor and creating 6.7 continuous miles of paved trail — the longest uninterrupted stretch in the BeltLine’s history.
The 1.3-mile segment runs from Pittsburgh Yards in the south to Blandtown in the north, connecting a string of west-side neighborhoods that have waited more than a decade for the trail to fully arrive.
Mayor Andre Dickens, Atlanta BeltLine Inc. President and CEO Clyde Higgs, and elected officials from Fulton County and Atlanta Public Schools held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the trail Wednesday morning, joined by dozens of neighbors who walked the new segment before it officially opened to bike and pedestrian traffic in the late afternoon.
A corridor at last
The BeltLine’s Westside Trail has been under construction in segments since 2017. Segment 1, which opened in 2017, ran from University Avenue north to Jefferson Street. Segments 2 and 3, completed in 2019 and 2021, extended the trail through the West End and Adair Park neighborhoods. Segment 4 — the final piece — picks up at Pittsburgh Yards, crosses under the I-20 rail corridor, and ends at the Blandtown greenway just south of Huff Road.
“In the design of the Westside Trail – Segment 4, we celebrate the City for its inclusive vision of innovation and entrepreneurship and the Beltline for its commitment to community engagement.”
— Christi Jackson, Board President of The Conservancy at Historic Washington Park
Why it took so long
The segment was held up for years by CSX rail negotiations, environmental review, and a complicated right-of-way acquisition along the former Atlanta & West Point Railroad corridor. Atlanta BeltLine Inc. took over the right-of-way from CSX in stages between 2021 and 2024, which finally allowed construction to begin.
Higgs, who has led Atlanta BeltLine Inc. since 2022, called Wednesday’s opening “a reminder that the most transformational infrastructure projects are the ones that test your patience.”
What’s on the new segment
- 1.3 miles of paved, 14-foot-wide trail
- Two new trailheads at Pittsburgh Yards and Blandtown
- Public art installations from three west-side artists, commissioned through the BeltLine’s public-art program
- Connections to the existing Westside Trail to the south and the planned Northwest Trail–Segment 1 to the north
- Eight access points linking to neighborhood streets
What it means for the West Side
The full Westside Trail now connects eight historically disinvested neighborhoods — from Mozley Park and West End in the south to Blandtown and Berkeley Park in the north — to a continuous off-street walking and cycling route. For the first time, residents of those neighborhoods can walk or ride to MARTA’s West End station, to the Atlanta University Center, and to the BeltLine’s main east-side corridor without leaving a paved trail.
That connectivity is the practical effect that city planners have been promising since the original BeltLine plan was unveiled in 2005.
What’s next
The next major Westside milestone is Southside Trail Segments 2 and 3, which are scheduled to break ground in the first quarter of 2026 and to open by the end of that year, completing the southern loop of the 22-mile BeltLine.
The Northeast Trail – Segment 3, which includes connector trails to the MARTA Lindbergh station, PATH 400, and the Armour-Ottley business district, is expected to be bid for construction in early 2026 and to mobilize by mid-year.
“The whole 22-mile loop will not be done this decade,” Higgs said. “But it is, finally, no longer a rendering. It is real pavement under real feet.”
Elena Vásquez covers city hall, transportation, and downtown development for WACN 21. Reach her at evasquez@wacn21.com.
