Newsletter Summer 2020 R

PATH NEWS

August 2020, Issue #101

PATH and the Pandemic

We

are happy to report that everyone on the PATH team is healthy and ready to resume normal operations. We apologize for not publishing our newsletter in April. It was ready to go the printer when we were advised to shelter-in-place.

During the pandemic, we are working from home to keep projects moving forward. We’ve been Zooming a lot, doing construction management from a distance, revamping the website, and posturing a few new projects for development.

It’s thrilling to observe PATH trails being used as stress relievers for weary workers stuck at home. Most PATH trails are experiencing an uptick in usage during the shelter-in-place period as families look for safe, healthy ways to recreate and socialize, even if it is from a distance. Your contributions to PATH helped build the first class venues for everyone to use during these trying times.

Bicycle usage skyrocketed during April, May and June. Many commuters who were still working, found wide open streets with fewer cars encouraging them to try bike commuting.

PATH trails coupled with empty streets resulted in safe, stress free ways to bike about the city during the pandemic. Maybe these folks will decide to keep commuting by bike now that they have had a positive experience.

PATH Foundation

A Non-Profit Organization Dedicated to Planning and Building Greenway Trails

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PATH Honored by General Assembly

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Representative Becky Evans encouraged the Georgia General Assembly to honor Ed McBrayer and PATH for building more than 40 miles of trails in DeKalb County over the past 25 years. The honor was shared by former DeKalb County CEO Liane Levitan, former DeKalb Commissioner Gale Waldorff, Representative Mary Margaret Oliver, Kelly Jordan, and former DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones in a ceremony during the General Assembly in February. We are all grateful for the recognition and look forward to future collaboration with DeKalb County and the State of Georgia.

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The PATH board of directors and staff are thrilled to have Greta as the new team leader. We are all confident that PATH will continue to garner the respect of philanthropists, city leaders, and trail users by delivering quality trail segments at a reasonable price in a timely fashion.

Completed PATH Trail MILE 300 Project

SILVER COMET CONNECTOR

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Greta, a registered landscape architect, assumed the role of Executive Director January 1st. Ed will remain at PATH as Executive Advisor, helping the PATH board, Greta, and the staff as needed. One of Ed’s duties will include working with Suzanne Scully to publish the PATH newsletter. Greta, Pete, Jonathan, Beth, and Suzanne will guide PATH on a day-to-day basis.

Legend

Huff Rd

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For almost 30 years, Ed McBrayer has been the Director of the PATH Foundation. Ed has chosen to step back from his day-to-day supervision of PATH activity and support the new Executive Director, Greta deMayo. Greta has been working on PATH projects for over 25 years, most recently as principal of Kaizen Collaborative, PATH’s go-to planning and design firm.

Connecting the Westside...

STONE MOUNTAIN PATH

GEORGIA WORLD CONGRESS CENTER

CENTENNIAL OLYMPIC PARK

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Meet Our New Executive Director

MERCEDES BENZ STADIUM

Martin Luther King Junior Dr Source: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AeroGRID, IGN, and the GIS User Community

The extraordinary partnership between Atlanta BeltLine (ABI), Georgia World Congress Center(GWCC), and PATH is making incredible progress in the effort to connect downtown Atlanta to the Westside BeltLine and Westside Park. PATH crews recently installed the trail bridge over Joseph E. Boone Boulevard, just west of the GWCC near Northside Drive. Additional bridges have been set over Meldrum Street and Cameron Madison Alexander Boulevard as the Westside BeltLine Connector(WBC) makes it way to Marietta Boulevard and the proposed Westside BeltLine Trail.

PATH Decatur is COMPLETE! The City of Decatur and PATH teamed up to design and build a first-class bike facility from the Stone Mountain Trail to and through downtown Decatur. As a cyclist, you can leave the Stone Mountain Trail at South McDonough and travel north on a separated facility through downtown Decatur to Clairmont and Church Streets.

Near Northside Drive, the WBC will pass through the Echo development being built by Lincoln Properties. Further west, the trail will pass by the future home of the Westside Future Fund, previously the Atlanta Food Bank. The majority of the trail has now been poured. PATH plans to have the trail open around the end of the year. The trail will be lit and secured by cameras.

Right-of-way for the Westside BeltLine Connector was provided by ABI. Funding for design and construction is being provided by donations to PATH and the BeltLine Partnership.

The $1.8 million project features one-way cycle tracks elevated to sidewalk height, creating vertical and horizontal separation from traffic. Green crosswalks for the cycle track make it clear to cyclists and motorists where they must share space.

The City of Decatur is working on an extension of the facility along Church Street toward LA Fitness.

PATH and ABI are also cooperating to build a segment of the Westside BeltLine Trail from the WBC to the Huff Road intersection alongside a reconfigured Marietta Boulevard. This BeltLine Trail will be built

by PATH crews. The design has been finalized and construction is scheduled to begin the first of the year.

PATH and ABI would like to complete this segment of the project next year.

Decatur Cycle Track on Commerce Drive

In addition, PATH is also working with the Cobb County DOT to bring the Silver Comet south to Atlanta.

A more comprehensive update on the Cobb County segment will be covered in the December newsletter.

E M E R G I N G

P R O J E C T S

PATH is partnering with The South Fork Conservancy to build a trail from Lindbergh to Adina Street under the I-85/Georgia 400 interchange. This trail will intersect PATH400 at Adina, as well as the bridge over Peachtree Creek to the South Fork Trail being planned by the Conservancy. Future PATH trails will connect these trails to the Atlanta BeltLine near Armour Yards.

PATH is helping Winder, Georgia build the mile long, Wilkins Greenway, that will connect the City of Winder to Fort Yargo State Park. The city has successfully competed for a Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program (GSOP) grant to build the trail.

We are pleased to announce our new partnership with the City of Covington to advance development of the Cricket Frog Trail. An energetic, persistent group of volunteers at Newton Trails have kept the dream alive to extend the Cricket Frog rail-trail to Mansfield and Porterdale for almost a decade. Now the parts and pieces seem to be falling into place. Your donations to PATH will pay for our time to assist the players in Newton County and at the City of Covington to make the extension of the Cricket Frog a reality.

Over I-85 The PATH Foundation is teaming with the City of Newnan to construct a trail bridge over Interstate 85, just south of the Cancer Treatment Center in Newnan. The bridge is the critical link that will connect thousands of residents east of I-85 to shops and restaurants in historic downtown Newnan. Construction began in March on the bridge that will be set in September. The 215 foot-long bridge will be twelve feet wide and clear-span I-85.

Lewallen Construction submitted the winning bid of $2.8 million to build this phase. Your contributions to PATH funded design and construction management of the project.

The Newnan City Council made a commitment in early 2019 to complete the LINC from the Summer Grove neighborhood and the Newnan Center to downtown Newnan in three years, using the city’s SPLOST revenue. The timeline may or may not change depending upon SPLOST revenue collection during the pandemic. The phase under construction will connect Newnan Crossing Boulevard East to McIntosh Parkway near Newnan Crossing Bypass. Future phases will extend the trail to C.J Smith Park, just east of the downtown commercial area.

C or ne s ’ r Ed

We Each Have Our Turn

I

have always been the type of guy who took whatever life threw at me and made the best of it. That philosophy has served me well for 76 years. That’s probably the reason I got on a soap box and expressed my viewpoint when a couple of friends told me they were contemplating Botox treatments and hair implants.

We each have our turn at being (fill in the blank), 20, 30, 40, and 50. I believe you should try to make the most of each phase of your life and move on to the next phase and try to make it special too. Wanting Botox and implants to make you look like you are still in a previous phase can contribute to you doing a lousy job of making the most out of the phase you’re actually in.

I remember my teens when I used to sneak the car out and joyride, knowing I had to put it up on blocks and spin the miles off when I returned. (I don’t think car odometers will do that anymore). I didn’t try that in my twenties. I had my turn at being 15 and crazy. I moved on to the next phase of my life.

In my twenties, I remember dancing at the club until 3 AM the night before finals at Georgia Tech. Not a thirties thing to do.

In my thirties and forties, I had somehow gotten through the sneaking and dancing phases of my life and turned my attention to being a businessman and finding a mate. I wasn’t prepared for either in my twenties and it might have been too late in my fifties, but it was my turn to do these things. Turns out, I did a great job of both while it was my turn.

I have never wished I was in a previous phase of my life. I have always enjoyed and made the most out of the phase I was in. I reasoned that I couldn’t go back anyway, so why waste time and energy on an effort doomed to fail.

I have had my turn as Executive Director of PATH. I relinquished the day-to-day management of the PATH team to my dear friend and long-time colleague, Greta deMayo, earlier this year. I will remain on the team, just not as the chief honcho.

I am ready to start another phase of my life that includes sleeping in, eating lunch on the screened porch, and watching the sun sink into Lake Sinclair at sunset. It’s my turn to let very capable people, in a different phase of their lives, make PATH even greater than it is today.

May you make the most out of every phase of your life! I sincerely hope your journey is as remarkable as mine has been. See you on the screened porch.

Conceptual view of LINC bridge over I-85

Presorted First-Class Mail U.S. Postage Paid Atlanta, GA Permit No. 8163

PATH Foundation P.O. Box 14327 Atlanta, GA 30324

Charlie Shufeldt, Chairman Alex Taylor, Vice Chairman Jennifer Dorian, Secretary Harry L. Anderson, Treasurer Samuel Bacote Brian Cosgray W. Douglas Ellis, Jr. William C. Fowler Sam Friedman B. Harvey Hill, Jr. Greta deMayo, Executive Director Ed McBrayer, Executive Advisor

Ciannat Howett James C. Kennedy Sarah K. Kennedy Scott Kitchens E. Cody Laird, Jr. Stephen Lanier John W. Somerhalder II C. Austin Stephens Richard Tyler

Pictured: Panola Mountain Greenway

PATH Foundation Board of Directors