Final mile of Silver Comet Trail complete at last

After 10 years, it all came down to one mile. The popular Silver Comet Trail poured its final mile of concrete this week connecting a gap that existed between Rockmart and Cedartown.

Now the Silver Comet Trail, built largely along an abandoned railroad right of way, extends 61.5 miles in Georgia and stretches all the way to the Alabama line.

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Andy Sharp/asharp@ajc.com

Runners Deborah Plont (left) and Randi Terryon the Silver Comet Trail earlier this summer.

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At the state border, that same path becomes the Chief Ladiga Trail and continues on to Anniston, Ala.

In all, that seamless trail is 95.5 miles long and thought to be the longest paved trail in the United States, according to Ed McBrayer, executive director of the PATH Foundation. The PATH Foundation has been developing bicycle and pedestrian trails in metro Atlanta for 17 years.

The completion of the Silver Comet Trail comes 10 years after construction began on one of PATH’s most ambitious and attractive projects. The very last foot of concrete for the Silver Comet Trail actually was poured Thursday afternoon near Hutto Road, about three miles east of Cedartown.

Finishing touches will continue on the final stretch of trail through September, but it will be open to the public on weekends during the month. PATH is discouraging riders from being on the trail on weekdays in September because construction workers will be doing final grading and landscaping on the trail.

The PATH Foundation and its donors and government partners will celebrate the completion of the trail at a festival Sept. 27 on the state line. McBrayer said a ride is being planned from the zero mile post in Cobb County, just west of I-285, all the way to the state line in Polk County.

The Silver Comet Trail cost about $400,000 a mile, or roughly $25 million, McBrayer said. More than $8 million of that cost came from private contributions to the foundation.

“It’s a wonderful milestone for us,” McBrayer said. “But we’re so busy getting new projects going, including the Beltline, that we’ll only have a short time to sit back and enjoy having completed this awesome project.”