For several years now, organizers have fought hard to realize the dream of a continuous bike trail all the way from downtown Atlanta to Anniston Alabama. For a couple decades most of this has been in place, but still ending well outside the I-285 perimeter. The amazing Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga trails have existed in both Georgia and Alabama respectively since the 1990s. These (connected) trails form nearly the longest continuous paved bicycle path in the world! (now outdone by the Paul Bunyan State Trail). While approaching Atlanta, the Silver Comet currently comes to an end in Cobb County just west of the Cobb East-West Connector. The Connect the Comet project aims to extend the trail to the Chattahoochee River, and the City of Atlanta plans to take it from there, all the way to the Atlanta beltline.
There are two main components to this project. One of those (the most critical in my opinion) is to extend the Silver Comet down to the Chattahoochee River. The above image shows the path the trail will take. The other piece is to see the City of Atlanta complete a trail that improves the “bicycle experience” south of the river towards Atlanta.
The reason I emphasize the Cobb extension is just based on my experience trying to ride to the start of the Silver Comet, from downtown Atlanta. Atlanta’s trails get a good start towards the Silver Comet with the recently completed Woodall Rail Trail that enables a nice bicycle ride from downtown, up to Westside Park on offroad trails. From there, bicycle friendly roads (like Gun Club Road, Hollywood Road) make for easy/pleasant riding to Atlanta Road and then across the Chattahoochee. At that point there’s abruptly, no more trails or bicycle lanes. Your only choice is to ride on a busy 4-lane with fast traffic and no buffer next to the road. It’s enough to shut me down – not my idea of fun.
Those last couple miles to the Silver Comet
The south end of the Silver Comet currently ends close to the East-West Connector. This will be extended mainly by paving a previous CSX railroad corridor to facilitate offroad travel down to Church Road. From there, the trail continues as a sidepath to Atlanta Road and down to the Chattahoochee River.
See overview of the extension and more detail on segments
Extending towards the Beltline
Picking up at the Chattahoochee, the City of Atlanta has embraced a project that continues the trail from the river with a new offroad path under Marrieta Blvd to Standing Peachtree Park, and down to Marrietta Road.
The trail from the river to Marietta Blvd is a small part of plans for 100 miles of trails expected to take a couple decades to complete.
When will it be done?
Both the Silver Comet Extension, and connecting the Chattahoochee to downtown are expected to be complete by the end of 2025, hopefully well ahead of the 2026 World Cup. I’ve never been one to put an emphasis on “showing off” for sporting events, but whatever works! I’m reminded of the Summer Olympics in 1996 being a big motivator for many to complete the Stone Mountain Trail nearly 30 years ago. Atlanta had virtually no good bicycle trails before that. What a transformation it’s been since then!