Footbridge across Chattahoochee gains 2-wheel support

The possibility of a footbridge across the Chattahoochee River linking Sandy Springs and east Cobb County appears to have drawn more support thanks to a change in how cyclists could be included.

The National Park Service is weighing whether to build a span just below Morgan Falls, as well as whether it should be for pedestrians only or could accommodate bicycles.

A new alternative unveiled at a public meeting Wednesday allows bike access but requires cyclists to dismount at the end of the Hyde Farm paved road and walk their bikes down a one-third-mile-long farm road to the proposed bridge site.

“Since we got so many comments of concern about Hyde Farm, we are considering requiring that you walk bikes down to the river,” park Superintendent Dan Brown said. “It would discourage people racing down those roads.”

More than 60 people at the meeting gave a mixed reception to the proposed $1.2 million bridge itself. A representative from Bike Cobb, a group of cyclists, submitted a petition with 207 signatures urging bike access and pledging to obey all park rules.

“We are building a legacy here,” said Robin Allen, a cyclist on the Cobb side. “Not building this bridge would be shortsighted to all this area offers.”

Property owners on both sides of the river, though, objected to opening access to a mostly pristine area. Some on the western bank also worried about protecting the loamy bottom.

“I have to concede, bicyclists would find it beautiful, but it’s the kind of unique environment we need to protect,” said Roger Buerki of Marietta.

Comments can still be submitted to the Park Service until July 16. A preferred alternative could then be presented to the public by late fall.

Comments can be e-mailed

to Brown at chat_superintendent @nps.gov or online at http:// park planning.nps.gov.