BeltLine’s Southside Trail breaks ground Wednesday with ceremony

ATLANTA — The Atlanta BeltLine is about to get a little bit bigger and connect even more communities.

The City of Atlanta held a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday to kick off the first phase of construction of the BeltLine’s Southside Trail.

Southside Trail-West is a 0.75-mile portion of the overall four-mile southside corridor.

Channel 2′s Wendy Corona was at the ceremony in southwest Atlanta, where Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and BeltLine officials broke ground. The segment will be the first of a larger part of the BeltLine that will eventually link the east and west trails.

It was 20 years ago when Ryan Gravel dreamed up the BeltLIne as his graduate thesis at Georgia Tech. Fast forward to today and he's seen it come to life.

"It may have looked impossible when Ryan had this dream, but we are seeing it become a reality," Bottoms said at the groundbreaking.

Gravel told Corona he was actually living on the southside when he came up with the idea.

"It’s allowing people to live the lives that they want and they’re creating new businesses," Gravel said. "All kinds of cool stuff happens when you give people the opportunity to live the kind of lives that they want."

For the past 10 years, southside resident Chantelle Rytter has produced the popular Lantern Parade on Atlanta's Eastside Trail. Now, the trail is finally coming to her.

"Seeing the Eastside Trail go from dirt to what it is today has been exciting, but just to have it right here where I live..." Rytter said.

The new trail builds a bridge for residents to three local job centers.

It took time, but Johnny Floyd is now proud to see progress in his Pittsburgh neighborhood where he's lived for 64 years.

“When you see dilapidated homes, apartments, whatever, I see where the neighborhood is coming back to life,” Floyd said.

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