Construction has begun on Decatur’s 1.2-mile bicycle/pedestrian trail emanating from 890 Columbia Drive and being developed by the PATH Foundation. The Columbia site, formerly home to a gas station, is now a 1.5-acre patch of green space that could possibly become a community garden and wildlife preserve.
The trail will be 12 feet wide and almost all off road, taking a right on Katie Kerr Drive, left on Cragie Avenue, and a right on Derrydown Way. It will temporarily end at the Avondale MARTA parking lot south of College Avenue.
Eventually, however, it will wind into a pedestrian/cycling plaza that’s part of Columbia Ventures’ mixed-use development of the site. From the plaza walkers/cyclists/runners can cross the bridge over College and connect with the Atlanta-Stone Mountain PATH trail.
The trail should finish by April according to Michele Ritan, director for East Decatur Greenway, which owns the South Columbia property. But it will likely take another two years before linking to the bridge.
Dillon Baynes, managing partner for Columbia Ventures, said the bridge will receive some exterior renovation, or “beautification,” but said it’s “structurally intact” and will remain at the same level as it is now.
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