At Beltline’s Eastside Trail extension, progress abounds, but road closure extended

It’s beginning to look like 2012 again around the Beltline’s Eastside Trail.

The concrete of a freshly extended multi-use trail, providing new perspectives on familiar Atlanta neighborhoods, has dried. Trees are planted. And people are using this newfound amenity, even if that’s not technically allowed yet.

The bad news: Installation of a necessary speed table, rapid flashing beacons, and other infrastructure is taking longer than expected where the Eastside Trail meets Irwin Street.

The Atlanta Beltline Partnership says the road closure near Krog Street Market has now been extended to Tuesday, when the busy route (for drivers, cyclists, and everyone else) is scheduled to reopen.

Elsewhere on the extension, work has nearly wrapped on the Wylie Street portion of the trail in Cabbagetown and Reynoldstown.

There, crepe myrtles are planted and concrete is laid. The trees further buffer Beltline patrons from the road and should provide dramatic splashes of color in summer. (Atlanta INtown Paper has a lovely photo compilation that shows trail progress this week, right over here).

Ditto for the concrete sections in the old rail corridor that runs under the Edgewood Avenue bridge, though the trail won’t fully connect to DeKalb Avenue in that area for quite some time, as North American Properties builds two mixed-use projects on either side of the future trail. Both developments are in planning phases.

Meanwhile, on the Westside Trail front, officials report the majority of concrete has now been poured on that three-mile multi-use trail in southwest Atlanta, with more trees and grasses going in by the day.

Look for a Westside Trail grand-opening date to be announced soon.

• Beltline’s Eastside Trail will officially have a gap, but ‘exceptional experience’ promised [Curbed]