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Photos: How the Beltline’s Westside Trail looks a year after opening (part II)

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Traveling the path from Adair Park to points north

By Josh Green
Photos by Jonathan Phillips 
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A downtown-bound MARTA train passes over the Beltline’s West Trail at the Lee Street tunnel.
A downtown-bound MARTA train passes over the Beltline’s Westside Trail at the Lee Street tunnel.

It’s been a year—give or take a couple of weeks—since the Atlanta Beltline’s Westside Trail was officially unveiled for public use, following three years of hype and roughly $43 million.

Linking Washington Park to Adair Park, the trail is dotted with 16 different access points—14 of them ADA accessible—lighting and an embedded centerline that designates left and right lanes.

Shaded in places by trees and tunnels, it’s the peaceful antithesis of the Eastside Trail’s commercialism and crowds, as we noted during a photo tour last month.

As promised, we ventured back to finish the Visual Journeys job last week, capturing in technicolor the art-bedecked segment that wends from Adair Park up to a West End commercial node.

Let’s start at the southernmost end of the Westside Trail, where it will one day link with the 4.5-mile Southside Trail corridor.

An unassuming dirt path that leads to where the Southside Trail will one day begin.
An offshoot path marks the Westside Trail’s beginnings at University Avenue. Built in 1948, the Capitol View Apartments community, seen at left, is in line to be renovated as affordable housing.
The University Avenue access point snakes toward the main trail.
The official end/beginning to the Westside Trail, where it connects to the Southside Trail corridor.
The swing in Angel Park blows in the wind.
Aluma Farm overlooks the trail.
Allen Peterson’s “Phoenix: Atlanta’s Railroad Rebirth” sits across Allene Avenue along the trail.
How a dilapidated but character-rich Murphy Crossing property meets the trail. Beltline officials recently bought 2.5 acres here for $2.1 million, bringing the agency’s holdings to about 20 acres. The Beltline is expected to release a request for Murphy Crossing redevelopment proposals this year.
Graffiti on the old exterior freight elevator. The property used to house the Archives and History Warehouse as well as the State Farmers Market.
The door to a dilapidated mechanical room.
Art by Gina Elizabeth Franco in the tunnel underneath Lee Street and Murphy Avenue.
Frog art by ACRY.
“Locksmith” by Muhammad Suber (Artist InUs).
Bird art by Jana Liptak.
“If I Were a Bird” by Sachi Studios.
A girl in a dress honoring Carrie Steele by Charmaine Minniefield.
A large piece by Miguel.
Monday Night Brewing’s Garage can be seen through the trees as the trail passes by the Lee + White development, where several retail spaces are under construction.
Approaching the Lawton Street access point.
Owl art by ARCY.
Looking south from the Lawton Street bridge, toward Adair Park, around lunchtime on a Thursday afternoon.
The art at Rose Circle Park marks where the trail backtracks up to Lawton Street.
Beneath the Lawton Street bridge.
Pay close attention to Beltline way-finding markers near White Street and the Lee + White complex, as the path exits the rail corridor for several blocks. (For new visitors, these directions are handy).
Continuing down White Street.
Next door to Lean Draft House is a carwash where each bay is painted by different artists. The piece here is by CFLUXSING.
This bay is painted by Joe King.
The Westside Trail brings patrons to the doorstep of Lean Draft House at the corner of Hopkins and White streets.
Inside the Draft House.
The Westside Trail’s entry/exit point at White Street, across the street from the restaurant.

See the remaining stretch of Westside Trail from Washington Park to the West End juncture above in this photo essay.

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