The Atlanta Beltline: America's Best Urban Trail?

It's hard to spend any time in Atlanta and not feel like you're in America's city of the future. I visited to check out the current state of the Beltline, the latest transit goings-on, and all the growing pains of this amazing city.

----------

----------

Patreon — a way to directly support my ability to talk about what I want to talk about every week, and get out to the cities I want to highlight. Much appreciation to all of you who are already patrons!

----------

Previous CityNerd videos referenced:

----------

Resources:

----------

Images
- Transportation Map of Atlanta Showing Street Car Trackless Trolley and Bus Lines of the Georgia Power Company, circa 1950s, MARTA Collection, Georgia State University Library
- Starbucks Center by Flickr user SounderBruce

----------

Instagram: @nerd4cities
BlueSky: @nerd4cities
Threads: @nerd4cities

----------

Music:
CityNerd background: Caipirinha in Hawaii by Carmen María and Edu Espinal (YouTube music library)

----------

[ianvega]

“Your time in college is often fondly remembered as a time when you could walk or bike wherever you needed to, have chance meetings with acquaintances while walking around, and can live near all the places you want to be”

[dominey]

Atlanta local here. THRILLED to see this video!

One important thing to understand about Atlanta is that the city nearly burned to the ground -- twice. First in 1864 during the civil war, second in 1917 when a fire spread from Old Fourth Ward into downtown and surrounding areas, destroying nearly 2, 000 buildings. Combine those events with the complete dismantling of an exceptional streetcar system in favor of automobiles, elected officials who prioritized suburban commuters over intown residents, and you end up with an empty shell of a city struggling to identify itself.

Also, areas like Little 5 Points, Inman Park, Candler Park, and Virginia Highlands exist today because local residents fought against state efforts to plow a multilane interstate through some of Atlanta's oldest, most historic neighborhoods. The state dynamited and destroyed hundreds of homes and buildings to clear a path, only to drop the project years later. That path is now Freedom Parkway and Park in downtown.

By and large, Atlanta is a mostly progressive city compared to the suburbs outside the 285 interstate. People want walkability, density, bike lanes, better transit, etc. It's the reason why the Beltline took off like a rocket when it was constructed, and continues to attract loads of people and development. Locals are starved for this kind of connectivity and mobility.

I could go on an on, but just wanted to share that. And thanks for coming down!

[cheeseborgors]

I live on the Beltline, very close to where you shot a lot of this stuff. I think a lot of your criticisms are valid - but it's walkability and ability to let me live car-free definitely outweigh a lot of the cons. One thing that I think is super interesting is that a lot of people are opposed to light rail on the Beltline because it would "ruin the park-like atmosphere." It suggests that people view it as an attraction instead of its intended purpose as a transit corridor connecting Atlanta neighborhoods.

[ChukwuemekaAligbe]

As an Atlanta resident, this video is so good. Atlanta needs to get its act together and embrace a future with less car dependency and embrace light rail on the BeltLine

[marknevitt]

A few fun facts to add to this outstanding video -

1. Krog Street Market was renovated by Tyler Perry and the home of Tyler Perry Studios before being a food hall.
2. The Eastside trail is now open alongside Piedmont Park, so there is outstanding park connectivity.
3. Atlanta City Council just passed legislation eliminating parking minimums within 1/2 mile of the Beltline. Kudos to Councilman Jason Dozier for this legislation.

[SoberonFilm]

I visited Atlanta and the Beltline in 2023 for the first time. As a South Floridan, it was mind-blowing to be able to access so many things without a car in sight. It made me seriously consider moving there.

[josephmao]

Georgia Tech student here — Glad you enjoyed our campus and city!

[beltlinerailnow]

CityNerd, we love your videos from around the country and the world and when I saw this one, I was filled with excitement that you were in our 'hood and covering the urban heart of Atlanta and our transit and built environment. I wish we'd known you were coming and that you were aware of us, as we would love to show you the transit component of the Atlanta Beltline and how it fits and plugs the gaps you identify here. You've made a great showcase of Atlanta, and we'd love to give you a deeper dive and invite you to come back for another look next year. Beltline rail has been the City of Atlanta's plan for the Atlanta Beltline for 20 years plus, and the extension of the downtown streetcar to and on the Beltline to Ponce City Market is a project in final design, but in a pause as our Mayor evaluates whether it should all move forward. We appreciate your capturing some of our yard signs in your video.

The battle of NIMBYism- which you catalogue so well in one of your prior videos, is alive and well here, and shown so well with some of the other cities you identify in your prior posts, and we'd love to show you more about that and the other pro and con arguments for and against transit up close and personal here in Atlanta. Take a look on our own YouTube channel, and see what local business owners have to say about why Atlanta needs Beltline rail, a 22-mile light rail loop parallel to the multi-purpose trail connecting 4 new MARTA infill stations to some of the cities hottest new destinations, with their employment, leisure, retail, and parks, but also to some of its most transit-dependent neighborhoods. Keep up the great work!

[tysoncodes]

The delivery robot being the worst pedestrian scene really made me cackle.

[chefbuff]

As an NYC transplant in ATL I have been waiting for you to cover the Beltline for some time! Appreciate your optimism on this project and Im looking forward to how the Beltline continues to shape the city. Now if only we could work on some Marta penetration into the more popular suburbs. Unlikely but dreamers can dream

[rohan_christopher]

its very easy to make me cry, but i certainly wasnt expecting to tear up at a citynerd video lol. that ending was very touching

[BreaBreaBreeze]

I live here car free (very few of us here lol) and the only way I can do that successfully is by living on the beltline. It’s the best thing that could’ve happened to this city. I have access to everything- my doctors office, grocery stores, bars, restaurants, convenience shops etc all within a 5-30 min walk.

I love this city + can’t imagine living anywhere else. Great city to thrive in if you’re an educated minority 💛

[kuni]

Atlanta looks nicer than I expected. More infill stations please!

[saratemp]

Trust me, if you had seen Atlanta even 15 years ago you wouldn't even recognize it today. Pretty much everything you've seen in those areas are redeveloped or new. There was pretty much nothing before. I really think Atlanta has a lot of potential, as they are going to fill in all those areas more.

[gabrielrollins]

"To a certain type of person there's no such thing as actual virtue, only virtue signaling" Fantastic!

[rongreen]

I really enjoyed this episode. As one who came up in the Jim Crow South, I appreciate your continuing to call out the bro-consciousness that often accompanies acknowledgment of our urban development and redevelopment patterns.

[ChriscDisc]

Ever since I have been subscribed I have been waiting on you to do Atlanta. I have been to many places in the US and Although it is not the best city in the world, it is my favorite city, because it is my city. Thank you so much for visiting our city and dissecting it. I hope that as the years go on the city continues to improve.

[JoshGreen-ue]

We're all fortunate to be living in Atlanta right now. Bravo on capturing that (shortcomings and all) in such a brief visit. Not mentioned: 10 months of agreeable if not wonderful weather. And almost all of the 22-mile Beltline loop will be complete in a couple of years, kicking the transformation of this gorgeous, diverse, flawed, and endlessly promising urban environment into overdrive.

[katobytes]

Harris Walz next to "NO RAIL ON THE BELTLINE" made me chuckle

[calvinhosworld]

WOOOOWWWW!!!! LOCAL ATLANTAN 26 year am only 1/3 of the way through the video and I don't know what I was thinking but no way I thought CN could be as thorough on ATLANTA as the video already is.

I've been looking forward to this video for nearly 2 years now and I seriously can't believe someone who has only been here less than a week (a simple snap-shot) but somehow literally covered everything I value and dislike about Atlanta and more in only the first 3rd of the video.

Finished: ok I still can't believe the amount of the story of ATL CN covered. There are people who have lived in Metro Atlanta over 30 years and have no clue about most of the information and neighborhoods that were covered here. He even went into many of the proposed plans that locals have been debating for years.

The only thing that maybe could have been shown were Summerhill (but I think he may have mentioned it before), Morningside, or Virginia Highland neighborhoods. but good video.