City of Atlanta and Beltline purchase the ‘Kudzu Line’ on Westside Corridor

The Atlanta Beltline has purchased more property needed to complete the multi-use trail.
“The City of Atlanta and Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. (ABI) have closed on 1.8 miles of former railroad corridor on Atlanta’s resurgent Westside, a stretch of track informally known as ‘the Kudzu Line,'” Atlanta BeltLine Inc. announced. “The purchase provides land for the mainline corridor, in addition to creating points of contact for potential spur trails that would connect the neighborhoods of Bankhead, English Avenue, Knight Park, and Howell Station.”
The purchase price is $6.3 million and will be funded with sales tax money.
With this purchase, ABI and the city now control 80 percent of the property needed to complete the Beltline.
The property will also provide access to the Bankhead MARTA station, Maddox Park and a future park at Bellwood Quarry, ABI says. The property will provide a future link to the new Proctor Creek Greenway.
“With each land acquisition, the Atlanta Beltline moves closer to fulfilling its promise to connect and unify the city’s many diverse neighborhoods,” Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in the press release. “That ambitious goal is the very embodiment of our vision for One Atlanta, a place where every resident can share in the natural beauty and economic wealth of our City, whether it be on foot, on a bicycle, on MARTA or all of the above.”
There’s still 20 percent of the corridor left on the northwest side of the Beltline and consists of “active railroad and non-railroad properties.”
“CSX is excited to work with Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. to finalize yet another property transaction that advances ABI’s vision,” CSX Regional Vice President of State Relations Craig Camuso said in the press release. “After working earlier this year to secure the sale of a critical piece of railroad corridor for the Southside Trail, CSX and ABI continue to build momentum for this project, which will enhance connectivity among Atlanta’s neighborhoods and spur sustainable economic growth.”
CSX will soon start removing the rails from the property. ABI wants to turn the property into an “interim trail.” The public cannot use it at this time because it is not safe, ABI says.