How This $4.8 Billion Walkway Is Redefining Atlanta

The metro Atlanta region emerged as a national economic bright spot in recent decades. Population growth has boomed in Atlanta's sprawling suburbs, fueling concerns over equity. The current vanguard of groups in the city are attempting to build with density while preserving affordable housing. Local planners believe that the BeltLine, a 22-mile-long pedestrian path, will reconnect communities and provide a bridge to the city's future.

Financial and tech firms continue to flock toward metro Atlanta. This builds on the city’s strong logistics, entertainment and film, and health services industries.

Demand for quality housing in the region has become fierce, particularly in the city center.

“Atlanta is becoming a wider city,” said Nathaniel Smith, founder and chief equity officer at the Partnership for Southern Equity. “Now, whether we’ll be able to kind of balance that out and ensure that, you know, black folks don’t get pushed out ... I’m not sure.”

In September 2022, the median home in the city of Atlanta was valued at about $400,000, according to Zillow’s Home Values Index. That price would be out of reach for the typical household in the city of Atlanta, which made about $64,179 annually in recent years. Rents also have ticked above the national median.

Some Atlanta locals believe ambitious urban redevelopment projects, such as the BeltLine, have contributed to fast-rising prices in the area.

The BeltLine is a 22-mile loop of walking and cycling trails built largely on abandoned rail lines and developed as a public-private partnership.

It was intended to connect different neighborhoods in the city with each other and to create, along the path, walkable communities where residents could access a variety of services without needing a car.

“We’ve put about $700 million into the BeltLine to date,” said Atlanta BeltLine Inc. CEO Clyde Higgs. “What we’ve seen is roughly an $8 billion private investment that has followed the BeltLine. That has caused a number of good things and also a number of pressures within the city of Atlanta.”

While the region evolves, a raft of community organizers are launching efforts to preserve housing affordability.

“It would have been great if we had an opportunity to secure more land earlier in the life of the BeltLine,” said Amanda Rhein, executive director of the Atlanta Land Trust, “because property values continue to increase in close proximity to the project.”

Watch the video to see how Atlanta plans to preserve housing affordability amid rapid growth.

Produced by: Carlos Waters
Additional Camera: Sydney Boyo
Graphics by: Jason Reginato, Alex Wood
Supervising Producer: Lindsey Jacobson

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The Rise Of Atlanta

[RealMattHaney]

As a native Atlantan I feel that, while the beltline is great (even with the issues described), the city should really focus more on improving density and decreasing sprawl. The city is just not that walkable, except in midtown and along the beltline. Meanwhile there is a very rich collection of neighborhoods, and it would be great to be able to get to them without a car. But the city is so spread out, with so much wasted space in surface parking, it can be complicated to navigate.

[christophercollins]

The belt roads goal is to create an environment where you can go to work, find a home, shop for groceries, access healthcare and education all without having to use a car. That’s priceless.

Car culture is the reason why our municipalities can’t support our underserved communities. We spend billions on high maintenance cost of car infrastructure (parking, roads, accidents etc.) it spreads out our utilities and increases the cost of living to a point that’s unsustainable.

[lin]

For a city with 6 million ppl the traffic is horrible. We need a mass transit system

[shanghaidiscovery]

I visited Atlanta last week and a European and used to walkable cities. I decided to walk from my hotel in the hotel district to a place called Atlantic station which is 2.5 miles I believe (and back later on). First, except for a couple of vagrants near the hotel, I was basically the only person walking and that was sort of eerie. And secondly, there are no street side businesses: no cafes, no shops. I walked through the Georgia Tech area and some of the streets were nice but again it looks like nobody ever walks them. But the next main issue is that many of these streets just end so you detour and then half a mile later you are again on the same street that sort of ended just before. Midtown is better in terms of street layout but again there are street side businesses. I also rode Marta and it was surprisingly nice but also very few users.... And when I got off in Buckhead, well you could clearly see that is the type of area where some would consider you suspicious for walking around so I guess it may take a while to change that mentality. If you want to entice people to walk there should be shops and cafes.... you have to have mixed use zoning if you want to have people walking around because let's face it, you can probably have most people walk a half or quarter mile radius but not much more than that

[RonniReMIX]

The Beltline was supposed to be a rail loop that was to help ease traffic in Atlanta. If you've ever been to Atlanta - THE TRAFFIC IS INSANE!!!

[rom]

Another reason the Beltline is so successful even without the Light-Rail yet is because it's the first "third-place" built in this city since the original city parks. People enjoy the Beltline because unlike most parks which have just housing around them, it's a place to hangout and go somewhere without necessarily paying money. You can meet so many people and go to different neighborhoods without needing a car. That's why it's so successful

[brianh]

I left Atlanta 2 years ago, primarily because I was spending 1.5 hours each way in commute time. I couldn't afford to live downtown and was out in the suburbs. The city really needs a viable subway and commuter rail network but they won't ever build one. It is really too late to do so and would be economically impossible. I don't consider the MARTA system to be viable because it doesn't have enough lines nor do they go far enough out. I do think the BeltLine is a positive thing but it is going to end up pushing out everyone who isn't rich.

[SincerelyFromStephen]

Low density sprawl will cripple the city’s ability to maintain infrastructure. If the metro is going to keep growing in population, it can’t keep growing in physical size without coming to a breaking point. Eventually it all just becomes unsustainable

[TheLIRRFrenchie...]

I lived in Atlanta without a car (Buckhead), and heed my words when I say Atlanta is not a place to live without a car. I lived by 2 Marta stations and a single bus line (the 110) and it was still a bit difficult getting around IF where you're going isn't close to Marta or the route is infrequent. The Marta rail is great!! It's really fast and if your point A and B resides on the rail, it's a great alternative to driving, PREFERRED actually!! But it just doesn't go enough places for NIMBY reasons 😌. Thank God I'm in back NYC (my home city) now.

[zacharyesparza]

It’s weird to me that when someone adds something of value, they don’t think that the value of the area will go up and change a lot.

[rlbond]

Atlanta's lack of mass transit has been holding it back for half a century. Unfortunately there are a lot of people who don't want mass transit for explicitly racist/segregationist reasons.

[GKP]

All American cities need to be redesigned for higher density living, walkability, better public transportation, mixed use/mixed income housing, reduce car use.

[Fellowtellurian]

The reason the city is in constant deficit is because it just accepted the sprawl model. Roads and infrastructure is expensive and if that infrastructure is serving 10 homes vs 100 homes, the costs are higher for tax payer or the city just makes cuts to other things because their budget is eaten up by the inefficiency infrastructure model. But hey, you get a big piece of land for the kids located next to nothing, reliant on your car and increasing gas prices.

[dsdddsdwe]

I've been in the Atlanta Metro for 18 years. I graduated from Georgia State University. Atlanta is such a great place. The main problem has always been traffic. Most major cities, like Chicago and New York, were built with transportation infrastructure.

However, Atlanta's growth happened in the last 50 years, with Delta making Atlanta this hub.

I hope for an ambitious transportation plan from Atlanta for the next 20 years.

[stateofkrunk]

i was one of the people who were originally against the belt line. i live in this area and thought there was way to0 much crime. wow was i wrong the belt line is amazing. if this is an example of gentrification i hope your city gets some soon. the cops use to tell me not to stop at red lights at night. now you can safely walk your dog. the progress is incredible.

[dougwatson-dvok]

I have lived in Atlanta since 1995. I have ridden my bike, on Rail trails and Greenways, all over the South East. So many cities have done a faster, cheaper job than Atlanta of creating a linear park system that works. I believe the Beltline was an amazing idea, but I am very convinced it has become a corrupt endeavor. It's taking an existing rail trail and it still only has small sections completed all over the city. In the meantime, it's the public investors that are making all the return on rising property values, so no one seems intent on completing it in a timely manner. Think about it. $4.8 billion to build a wide sidewalk over a 20-year timespan. If the public has invested (think private companies) more than $8 billion, around it, it is not out of some altruistic urge. For sure the government officials overseeing it are getting something personally. Not surprised that some of the original visionaries, left the organization, disappointed, and the folks with perfect hair, makeup, and outfits remain.

[isaac]

Most people are moving much further like Cartersville, Acworth, Douglasville, Canton, Austell, Mableton, Hiram, Dallas, Powder Springs and Lithia Springs to save money on rent/mortgage and get lots of land/space but unfortunately by doing so, they MUST have a car because public commute to and from those cities is damn near impossible if they work around Atlanta.

One bus twice a day connecting to downtown Atlanta is NOT ENOUGH! Other major cities like in the states of New Jersey, New York and California have more reliable rail transport and also city buses to all routes unlike here in Ga where everything starts and ends within the city limits of Atlanta.

[DezNaomi]

Atlanta native here- everyone is talking about public transportation, the video briefly mentioned that Marta expansion keeps getting blocked but it didn’t give a reason why. It’s because the affluent suburbs don’t want the “riff raff” coming into their areas and keep voting no on it. Fear of crime is how it’s messaged, which we all know is coded racism and classism. It’s continued to block expansion and block opportunities for everyone, and it only looks like it’s getting worse. Gotta address that before any public transportation will get fixed

[deshipe]

I live in Atlanta. The beltline proves the power of a name. It's literally just a sidewalk paved over old railroad tracks. But if you called the sidewalk, no one would go to it. Call it the beltline and everybody goes.

How does it cost so much? It's concrete.

And, might some light rail been good idea too? You had the railroad tracks. If you really wanted to connect to Marta, you would want commuter rail (I thought that was the idea when I first heard)

[gradybabygamer]

I grew up in the Oakland City and Capitol View neighborhoods in Southwest Atlanta. I’ve seen this city change so much throughout the years. In the 60s and 70s, this city was left for dead! White flight was real. I know a lot of black families took advantage of the opportunities to buy homes in the city like my grandparents. We still own a property in the Capitol View neighborhood as a family which right along the Beltline. My sister owns a home in the Venetian Hills neighborhood not that far from our old neighborhood. It’s having the foresight to see down into the future. It’s here now and a lot of Atlantans didn’t see it. But if you had bought early on you can benefit right now! Houses were going for dirt cheap in my old neighborhood! And those that are owners held on through the bad times and are going to reap the benefits. Gentrification CAN be a good thing because it improves the surrounding communities and services. But if you can’t afford to live where you stay it’s sucks