Construction begins on Atlanta Beltline's Northwest Trail Segment 3B

Atlanta leaders broke ground Thursday on a nearly one-mile stretch of the Northwest Beltline that will carry people walking and biking over Northside Drive and beneath Interstate 75.

Northwest Trail Segment 3B will begin at Northside Drive, where it connects with the completed Segment 3A, and continue toward Tanyard Creek. The project will include a pedestrian bridge over Northside Drive, a path through the Atlanta Technology Center, a passage beneath I-75 and an elevated trail along the Tanyard Creek concrete channel.

"This pedestrian bridge that's going to be over Northside Drive ... who would have thought it?" Mayor Andre Dickens said during the groundbreaking ceremony. "Anybody who drives along Northside Drive really knows how busy this road can be. So this is going to be a way to be protected and safe."

The new section will connect with the completed Segment 3A and the existing Northside Trail. Atlanta Beltline officials said it will improve connections among the Ardmore, Berkeley Park, Brookwood, Collier Hills and Loring Heights neighborhoods.

District 9 Councilman Dustin Hillis said the Northwest Trail required additional planning because much of it does not follow an abandoned railroad corridor like other parts of the Beltline.

"People here in northwest Atlanta and District 9 had to wait," Hillis said. "While we saw all the good happening on the east side, we had to wait a decade to see groundbreakings over here."

Construction on Segment 3B is expected to be completed in late fall 2028. Once finished, the full Northwest Trail will run 4.3 miles between the Westside and Northeast trails.

The Atlanta Beltline now has 16.7 completed miles, or about 78% of its planned 22-mile main trail. The city's goal is to finish the loop by 2030, although Dickens said he is pushing for completion in 2029.

"I want to cut the last ribbon in 2029," Dickens said. "Not being selfish, just being aggressive."