ATLANTA — Work is now underway on a project that will one day create a multi-use path that will stretch from Atlanta all the way to the Alabama state line.
Crews have broken ground on the first section of the Silver Comet Connector. Volunteers spent two years clearing a ten-acre plot of land near Ellsworth Industrial Boulevard for a .7-mile path called the Woodall Rail Trail.
The entire Silver Comet Connector will be three miles, tying into the N.W. section of the Atlanta Beltline on one side and the 61-mile Silver Comet Trail that goes to Alabama.
Terrious Miller often walks the Silver Comet Trail and says more trails like it are needed.
“Getting more people outside, keeping kids off the computers and phones, getting them out on their bikes,” Miller said.
Adeline Collot of the Upper Westside Improvement District says the Woodall Rail Trail and Silver Comet Connector are in response to the wishes of people living on Atlanta’s west side, where sidewalks are lacking.
“The clear call was trails,” Collot said. “Walking and biking and figuring out how to get around in this part of town without a car.”
Growth on Atlanta’s Upper Westside is part of the equation.
“The traffic is terrible and people don’t want to spend time in their cars,” said Collot. “They want to walk to their office, walk to restaurants.”
Terrious Miller believes north Georgia will be a better place when the opportunity to park your car and exercise mind, body, and soul stretches from Atlanta all the way to the Alabama state line.