U.S. Department of Transportation Awards $25 Million RAISE Grant Beltline’s NE Trail / PATH400 Connection
You may have read in the news that Atlanta Beltline was awarded a $25 million RAISE grant, but what may have slipped by you is that this funding specifically includes the connection to PATH400 in Lindbergh! We’re so excited since we’ve been waiting for this since 2016. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced the award of a $25 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant to the City of Atlanta and Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. The funds will be used for the construction of a 2.2-mile network of multi-use trails in northeast Atlanta between the Armour/Ottley and Lindbergh areas.
This will be the first time the Atlanta BeltLine trail will connect to a MARTA transit station (at Lindbergh Center), fulfilling the vision to connect with the region’s larger transportation network. This is the spaghetti junction in the regional trail network – it is where PATH400, Beltline, Peachtree Creek Greenway and the Southfork nature trails all come together and this connection is vital to activating PATH400. This is the most complicated and of course most expensive part of the entire Beltline and our connection is outside the tax allocation district, so there was concern about it not becoming a reality.
The $25 million grant will offset a funding gap for constructing 2.2 miles of trails through northeast Atlanta and involves adding two routes that branch off from the mainline trail. A westbound route will connect to MARTA’s Lindbergh Center rail station, while an eastbound route will connect to PATH400, Peachtree Creek Greenway and Confluence Trail. PATH400’s connection at Adina and Piedmont Road has been complete since 2016.
“The Northeast segment of the BeltLine is a huge undertaking, but Atlanta does big and we do it well—and we do it together,” said Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens. “Thanks to Senator Ossoff, Senator Warnock, Congresswoman Williams and the Biden Administration, Atlanta now has $25 million in funding—in addition to millions in infrastructure dollars already delivered—for utility, stormwater, accessibility and safety infrastructure for Segment 3 and surrounding connectors.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg emphasized that all the projects were proposed and planned by local authorities. No project received more than $25 million from the program, the maximum for projects of less than $45 million total cost. The department selected 22 projects to receive that maximum.
“It is particularly focused on communities’ needs,” he said. “We don’t design the projects at headquarters. We are proceeding very much on the idea that the answers don’t all come from Washington, but more of the funding should.”
Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock and Congresswoman Nikema Williams, all Democrats, announced they’d secured a $25 million grant.
“The BeltLine is more than a walking path, it is an artery connecting Atlantans to each other and their neighborhoods in the heart of our state,” said Sen. Reverend Warnock. “That is why I am proud to have worked alongside Senator Ossoff to secure these funds for the city to expand trail construction, bolster accessibility, strengthen economic development and more. Atlanta is on the frontlines of our green economy, and by investing in this world-class transportation corridor, we are continuing to pave a path towards a better tomorrow.”
The RAISE grant program, expanded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, supports communities of all sizes, with half of the FY2023 funding going to rural areas and the other half to urban areas. The grants are part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda that is growing the American economy from the bottom up and middle-out—from rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, to driving nearly $500 billion in private sector manufacturing and clean energy investments in the United States, to creating good-paying jobs and building a clean-energy economy that will combat climate change and make our communities more resilient.
“The BeltLine is a transformative Metro Atlanta infrastructure project to upgrade quality of life and spur equitable development across the region. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are investing to accelerate the completion of the BeltLine Trail,” Sen. Ossoff said. “Imagine families walking and biking, restaurants, retail, and small businesses, green spaces and trail connectivity across Metro Atlanta. This is a huge step forward towards that vision.”
This year’s awarded projects will help more people get where they need to be quickly, affordably, and safely. From projects that will strengthen supply chains and reduce bottlenecks, to bridge replacements and road projects to make them safer and more efficient for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians, this year’s awards will build and repair infrastructure that benefits Americans for future generations to come, while taking steps to reduce emissions from the transportation sector and support wealth creation and good-paying union jobs. Seventy percent of the grants are going to projects in regions defined as an Area of Persistent Poverty or a Historically Disadvantaged Community.
