Design of the first phase of Brookhaven’s Peachtree Creek Greenway is 30 percent complete with the possibility of the project going out to bid by the end of this year and construction beginning as soon as February.
That was the news delivered to the City Council at its Aug. 8 meeting by PATH Foundation Executive Director Ed McBrayer. The city contracted with the nonprofit PATH Foundation in March for approximately $350,000 for the design of the first phase of the Greenway, between North Druid Hills Road and Briarwood Road.
“We’re working feverishly on the 60 percent documents right now and hope to get them back to you soon … and have them all ready for bidding before end of the year,” McBrayer said. “Our timeline is to have construction start early next year.”
The 30 percent phase included having the alignment of the trail specifically defined; conducting flood and hydrology analysis; environmental permitting; civil engineering; erosion control; and structural and geotechnical engineering.
Acquisition of easements is also taking place, McBrayer said, and the city continues to be in talks with the Salvation Army about the donation of an easement on its property for a small trail head at the top of the property’s hill. The Salvation Army headquarters is located off the Northeast Expressway and its property backs up to Peachtree Creek.
There are also talks with Corporate Square office park for some parking access, he said, to go with a planned plaza area.
A bridge is planned at Corporate Square office park from the plaza to the other side of the creek, where the Greenway will continue. Plans are to make the bridge an iconic structure for the city and a preliminary rendering includes cable work.
“We want the bridge to be a big focal point for this phase,” McBrayer said. “We do have to cross the creek here. We’re just throwing out ideas right now … but we want something other than a typical bridge.”
“I love the plan and timeline,” Councilmember Bates Mattison said. “Everyone in Brookhaven wants to see this sooner rather than later.”
The paved multi-use path for the Greenway would be similar to the Atlanta BeltLine and be 14 feet wide, McBrayer said.
McBrayer told the council that for the past 26 years he’s been trying to connect Atlanta with a network of trails.
“I think this is a great addition,” he said.
The city is currently using eminent domain to gain some 19 acres of undeveloped land on Briarwood Road, where a trail head also is planned. City officials and property owners could not reach an agreement on price for the land.
The 1.2-mile stretch of the first phase is the central link of the entire 2.9 -mile Greenway section in Brookhaven. The Greenway is planned to run through Chamblee and Doraville, and its proponents want it eventually to connect to PATH400 in Buckhead and then to the Atlanta BeltLine.