Riverfront Trail Takes Shape in Atlanta

"A vision to create a Chattahoochee River trail within the City of Atlanta is one big step closer to reality," reports Maria Saporta.

Invest Atlanta advanced the project when it approved a "pivotal land swap between the city and the development group of Chattahoochee Trails LLC and Kovach Development," according to Saporta. "Atlanta will receive 22 acres while the developers will get about 8 acres. That will give the city the ability to build nearly one mile of trails along a 200-foot buffer along the Chattahoochee River and a 75-foot buffer along a portion of Proctor Creek."

When complete, the Chattahoochee River trail would connect the Proctor Creek Greenway to the Silver Comet Trail, which extends all the way to Alabama.

The Chattahoochee River trail is part of a larger effort in the city of Atlanta to develop a waterfront as an amenity for residents. "A citizens group called Chattahoochee Now hired Ryan Gravel of BeltLine fame to do a 53-mile master plan for a river park," according to Saporta, and "the Atlanta Regional Commission has provided a $1.2 million grant for a detailed plan for six miles of trail (three in Cobb County and three in the City of Atlanta) as well as a vision stretching 50 miles to the north and 50 miles to the south."