Construction Update

Denise Starling, executive director of Livable Buckhead, gives us the dirt on PATH400 progress.

Partnerships Partnership Partnerships – Yet another partner has come into the PATH400 circle of friends…Camden Development. As part of developing their new project in Buckhead’s west village, Camden has to satisfy the City of Atlanta’s tree recompense requirements. Thanks to City Arborist Paul Lewkowiscz and Landscape Architect Kevin Thomas of SITE Solutions , Camden is meeting those requirements by donating 300 caliper inches of trees to PATH400! Plans are being drawn up as I write by local landscape design guru Steve Sanchez at HGOR and will be incorporated into the part of trail that recently opened between Sidney Marcus and Miami Circle adding those finishing touches to make this section pretty.

But wait – there is another cool feature coming on this part – raised garden beds! Our PATH400 neighbors at the Marion Highrise are avid gardeners and have taken over every spot of land they can find to grow their native plants including cabbage, kale and a bunch of other stuff I can’t identify. We thought this was incredibly cool and decided to take it a step further and create PATH400’s very own garden and orchard in this funky area. But of course, these aren’t just any old raised garden beds . We have partnered with the City’s Urban Agriculture fanatic, Mario Cambardella, to bring in designer Chris McDowell who works with reclaimed lumber to create works of garden art. Look for these to go in some time around Valentine’s Day to show our love!

More Dirt Flying – You know by now that we are a very impatient bunch and our goal is to have dirt flying constantly on PATH400. It is nice to be 50 percent done, but as the legendary Ricky Bobby says, “If you aren’t first you’re last!” So, of course, we are on to building the next part – from Sidney Marcus to connect with the Gordon Bynum pedestrian  bridge that leads to Lenox Square. After four very long years, the land transfer agreements are finally in place and we have gotten underway. But what does “underway” mean? Well, it will start off a little slow. If you look closely from the highway, you might spot some pink flags marking the centerline of the new trail. You will soon see some initial clearing done to allow our crews to get in to do some additional soil studies to confirm our structural designs and make any modifications we might need. Once we get those studies – we will take a few weeks to finalize any redesign needed and then we will be back to cooking with gas!