Officials: Beltline link between Piedmont Park and Buckhead to see paving soon

A leg of the Atlanta Beltline’s planned Northeast Trail is soon to begin construction, project officials announced at a public meeting Thursday evening.

In fact, by next spring, the 0.7-mile stretch of path running parallel to the Ansley Golf Course between Ansley Mall and Buford Highway is expected to be paved and open to the public.

That’s the middle segment of the part of the Beltline that will link the Eastside Trail, at Piedmont Park, to Buckhead’s Lindbergh MARTA Station.

Georgia Power, which has been relocating transmission lines along that piece of the Northeast Trail, will handle the paving once temperatures drop a bit more.

Currently, crews are working on the drainage systems at the middle segment, per officials.

Gillis Carroll, Atlanta Beltline Inc.

One attendee at Thursday’s meeting expressed concerns about the trail’s proximity to the golf course.

“I’d like to think that all the golfers at Ansley Golf Course are pretty good,” he joked, nodding to the golf balls that make their way off club property when players shank their shots.

Meghan Injaychock, a Beltline landscape architect, responded: “We’re hoping to beef up evergreens over there,” and officials are talking with the golf club about possibly installing protective netting, too.

A timeline for the other two parts of the Northeast Trail isn’t clear yet, as Georgia Power will have no hand in building those sections, and funding still needs to be identified, officials said.

Project leaders are now in the design phase for those segments, and they’ll remain interim hiking trails for the time being.

In other Beltline news, Injaychock said visible construction on the Eastside Trail lighting and camera project is slated to kick off in the next three weeks and then wrap up a few months later.

Officials intend to keep the trail open during construction, although crews may implement “rolling lane closures,” Injaychock said.