IYKYK
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[wall of text incoming]
I did my exploration of the Atlanta beltline yesterday, something I’ve been doing for years now when I have the time for a long bike ride.
from my house, I take Glenwood west until it intersects the beltline at the Glenwood connector over I-20, which Ts into Glenwood and the beltline continues southwest into the dirt and gravel.
this whole section is under heavy construction. usually I just go around it to one side, but we’re talking giant drainage trenches and bridges out. also, the crews (usually only one crew is doing impassable construction at any given time) were still working even though it was almost 5pm. when I first tried to rejoin and saw more workmen, it was like 5 til 5:00, I just figured I’d wait it out. but it became obvious everyone was working extra hours. even the crew I passed like an hour later on the west side was still working. this is a new development. usually I have those areas to myself in the evenings. so right after I got on the beltline, I had to find a little neighborhood footpath off of it, take side streets by dead-reckoning, haul my bike up the side of a steep, overgrown hill with a bunch of erosion fences I lifted the bike over, and hope I had gone by the impassable section.
nope.
another bridge out. repeat that process downhill and up again.
this is all to say that there’s obviously some pressure to complete this area. the east and west side have been fully passable at least by gravel, but mostly paved, for years now.
the further south I got, there were still signs of a lot of work being done, but there weren’t crews out actively doing it. lots of trucks and heavy equipment parked at intervals. although one backhoe was working in an adjacent park. it looked to be laying a foundation for a staircase down to the park. this south side isn’t officially open but you can get through most of it no problem. despite a lot of temporary fences, there’s usually an easy way around. although at one street’s intersection, I did have to lift the bike over my head, throw it over the fence into the bushes, and climb. this is not an unusual maneuver in my history of illicit beltline travel, but thankfully more-and-more rare, and it was the only one yesterday.
as I traveled northward along the west side, I joined the paved section that’s been in place for years now. a fair amount of people out enjoying the hot but very breezy day. there’s a section that is routed awkwardly to go over a street. I always cut this long right angle by using a side path to one of the tangible benefits of the beltline here: a section of thriving shops and restaurants. located in the former industrial buildings along the defunct railroad, that railroad has become the beltline and this area is always full of people enjoying the fare.
here I usually stop into a bar which is open on one side to the pathway and get the bartender to refill my water bottle. I always tip them a dollar. despite each bartender always politely refusing, I insist. it was a young man yesterday, he seemed impressed that I was obviously going the distance on such a hot day. “this bottle should get me around the other half” I said as we shook hands.
across the street I rejoined the beltline. towards the top end of the west side has been torn up for years. but if you’re adventuresome like me, it was passable. as I approached the park with the tennis courts, I was pleased to find that the section under construction for years previously had been completed. further still, the gravel section on the other side had been fully paved. this was surprising; since the last time I did this ride in the fall (I’ve been working out of town a lot and hadn’t ridden as frequently as usual) it’s obvious that this section has been worked on the most.
this is a halfway mark of sorts. the beltline terminates here at a paved T intersection. if you take it right (east,) the trail takes you towards the Georgia Dome, you cross a large road intersection, rejoin the path over the railroad (the far end of “The Gulch”) and it puts you on Marietta a bit west of Centennial Olympic Park, CNN Center, and then into the heart of downtown. sometimes if I don’t feel like doing the full circuit, I’ll go this way, take Marietta through Five Points (not to be confused with Little Five Points aka L5P,) down Edgewood and reconnect with the beltline on the east side through the Krog tunnel. from there it’s only a short section which puts me back to my beginning at Glenwood.
I was going for the whole enchilada yesterday. I went left and followed the path as it bent northward again. but only for a short while. before long, the beltline terminates and it’s dirty little secret is revealed: it ain’t a belt. it’s a horseshoe.
despite vigorous work, progress, and completed sections in the east, south, and west, absolutely no ground has even been broken for the north section. I think maybe some of the old railroad tracks may still be in use in the part I reach at this part of my narrative, but I am sure that the main problem is that this is where the rich folks live. not only is the real estate here a lot more expensive, I’m quite sure the residents do not want hobo-looking guys on bikes like me and other undesirables to use their neighborhoods. I’m happy to be wrong about this, but the fact remains: the rest of the city has embraced this project, whereas absolutely nothing has happened in the north in the decade-plus of progress elsewhere.
I use streets to go eastward across the northern part of the city. over I-75/85, through neighborhood side streets to Collier Road, which terminates at Peachtree. then I take my top secret cut-through over the creek, over the freight tracks, under the Marta tracks and finally to the northeast beltline terminus along at the upper edge of Ansley golf course. aside from the expensive land and the politics, it’s easy to see why all these obstacles make the northern section off-putting to the beltline committee. navigating these things on foot (and lugging a bike over the unrideable and climbing parts, in my case) is one thing. building infrastructure through all this is gonna be tough. it’s gonna be worse than the parts at the beginning of this essay, probably. at this point, I suppose the completed beltline will happen, but it ain’t gonna be anytime soon.
I’ll note that I was pleased to find there was no freight train parked on the tracks yesterday. there is often a train moving along this part that I have to wait to pass, and then usually one is also parked on an adjacent track which I would’ve had to lift my bike over. which is potentially the most dangerous part of these trips if the train starts moving. a hobo once told me that if you start to hear distant clicking, that’s the couplers getting pulled to their extremes by the locomotive. the clicking gets louder to a clanging and then you’re on a moving train. if you spend any time around train yards, you’ll hear it eventually. though slow at first, the tonnage of a train at any speed is incredibly fucking dangerous. I know a guy who lost a foot being a dilettante about freight-hopping. when I do go over a parked train, I listen carefully for any clicking while I prepare mentally and physically. I grab the ladder welded to the end of the freight car, hoist the bike and myself up in as fast and fluid a motion as I can muster, step over the coupler and onto the far ladder. I hold the bike as low as my arm will hang, ready to drop it and jump away if necessary. although, if I hear clicking at this point, in theory I should still have plenty of time to get down. climbing down the ladder only takes a few seconds. the whole maneuver takes me less than a minute. still, forewarned is forearmed.
but there was no train yesterday. so that was nice.
there is little to report about the section from this north-eastern terminus all the way through Piedmont park. it’s completely paved, finally. this part, in previous years, was the section I had to duck workmen, detour through underbrush, cross a creek, and climb the fences meant to keep people out. but now it’s a solid ribbon of concrete with people enjoying their evening on it. on the other side of the park and across Monroe is the section of the beltline that was completed first, and is by far most heavily trafficked: the Eastside Trail.
I’ve been using this part since before they even tore up the rail tracks. one night I needed to walk home from The Local to my apartment, at that time in Inman Park. leftward, Ponce to Highland, made a right angle which would take me far out of my way. on my right, Ponce to Glen Iris was the mirror image of that path. I wanted to take the hypotenuse of those triangles, so I set forward across the Murder Kroger parking lot by dead-reckoning. I very quickly found the tracks that became the Eastside Trail, and they took me directly home.
after years of having this route to myself, it is now the most crowded place I ever go in Atlanta. it can be frustrating since, during low traffic, a bike can really haul ass here. the beltline is mostly graded on gentle slopes to accommodate the former railroad, which contrasts heavily with the rest of the city, the hills of which I must slowly grind up, frequently in my lowest gear. the Eastside Trail is almost completey flat, even by beltline standards, and there is only one street crossing to stop at. this has the effect of conserving one’s momentum to such a degree that a cyclist can spin in top gear with great ease. anywhere else in Atlanta, this only happens during brief downhills before the inevitable uphill grind that follows. so the Eastside Trail can be a fun ride, but it is generally all for naught. it’s about as fun as the Grady Curve during rush hour, except the traffic on the Eastside Trail is permanent on anything approaching a nice day. the signs posted along the rest of the beltline which admonish foot traffic to keep right – allowing joggers, scooters, skates, and bikes to use the center – have somehow never been posted here. although as crowded as this section is, I’m not sure it would work out anyway. I go as fast as I safely can: scouting my path well in advance, keeping a predictable, straight line (in contrast to the riders of the rental scooters, all of whom swerve unpredictably the entire time) and manage to have fun gameifying my windows of opportunity.
the rest of my circuit as it goes through the Krog tunnel and back to Glenwood is unremarkable. it is paved trail and bollard-separated road which have been in place for years. my respite from steep hills during the entire circuit of the beltline is abruptly over as I hang a left on Glenwood. I throw it in low gear and grind upward.
I’ve read that the completed beltline will be a 22.5 mile loop, iirc. I figure that means I’ve done close to that on my ersatz circuit, plus forty minutes’ ride from my house and back. these trips take in the neighborhood of 4 hours total but I don’t like keeping track beyond leaving the house in time to beat nightfall, although sometimes I have to cut my lights on during the final leg back up Glenwood. I haven’t been riding as much as usual due to work and weather, and during the prolonged hill after I cross I-20, I start to realize I’m not in my usual shape. I pull over to a gas station for more fuel, my fuel taking the form of beef jerky and peanut butter crackers. then I take it easy the rest of the way home, stopping once more at my local convenience store for a particularly well-deserved beer.
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4-EVAH!
Also, we were down at the Plaza recently, and I’m always amazed whenever I’m down around Ponce on the weekends, just how BUSY this part of town is now. I’ve been coming to this area of town for a couple of decades now and it’s just insane how many people hang out down on ponce now.
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Hennepin Avenue is an old Native American route that connected the Mississippi River and Bde Maka Ska. The bridge at Hennepin Avenue was the first bridge to cross the Mississippi River.
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My report from Philadelphia.
I was in Philadelphia over the weekend, for reasons I won’t bore you with. My opinion: Generally nice.
It’s personality reminds me of Brooklyn. I thought to myself things like:
- Ah, this is like Brooklyn Heights.
- Now this is like that one part of Park Slope.
- If I didn’t know better I would swear this is Cobble Hill.
- Oh, this is like Grand Army Plaza.
- These small storefronts with filled with individual businesses remind me of Williamsburg.
- These disgusting huge condos thrown-up in the past decade that no one lives in also remind me of Williamsburg.
Their public transportation is pretty nice, but there is not enough of it. And yes, busses are not entering into this assessment. Why? because busses require very little planning, display very little political commitment to the public good, and do a small amount of work inefficiently.
Most of the city is quite walkable. But other parts of the city have been totally carved-up by absurdly enormous expressways, Interstates and freeways. I was literally stunned by these vast empty deserts of asphalt. For example, the Philadelphia Museum of Art is perched on a mountain top surrounded by uncountable lanes of high-speed traffic.
The parts of the city that were developed after the automobile are painfully obvious. In fact, in these places it stops being a city at all. It becomes large buildings separated by vast distances. The Franklyn Institute is across the street from the Free Library, but you will have to cross 14 lanes of traffic to get there.
I’m going to calculate my epic walk from yesterday. I will report back.
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I completely agree with every part of this assessment!
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You reminded me of how a similar point was demonstrated in this video about a highway that was restored to a river/stream (around the 5:19 mark):
It is possible to move away from a car-centric model, and hopefully there will be more demand for change in Philly to make that happen.
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I think it’s imperative. I think that the actual “level 5 self driving” thing is a distraction and what the really want is to turn our cities into dystopian hellholes where only self driving vehicles are allowed and humans and human scale development aren’t tolerated. Humans will still be there, scuttling among the robots scavenging for the dregs.
Or we can build cities for people. Which is what the right wing are going nuts about being mind control and authoritarianism. You know, local neighbourhoods with mixed use, shops, work, and recreation that you can walk around and get efficient pubic transport to bigger centralised things like hospitals and museums and sportsball games.
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That’s a great video. I love the term “car sewer.”
Thinking about the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway a bit more. I’m sure at the time having a vast roadway carving its way through neighborhoods felt like the future. They probably even thought if they give cars enough space, it could even be beautiful. In order to build it, they even took one of the four original parks and transformed it into a traffic roundabout. Now Logan Square has a beautiful fountain that you can only appreciate from your car as you drive by.
It makes me glad Manhattan was able avoid the LOMEX. Thank you, Jane Jacobs.
Exactly. Over the past decade New York CIty, and especially Manhattan, have been reducing car lanes. More and more car lanes are now reserved for pedestrians or bicycles. This is what the local Republicans point to as a reason for traffic jams. They say, “Everything will be better if you take away Congestion Pricing and give us all our lanes back!”
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Here is a map of my epic walk.
According to Google, it was roughly 7.75 miles. That means it was 7,750 paces or 15,500 steps. Try that calculation with the metric system!
My route was basically a large figure eight. I left the hotel and proceeded east on Market Street.
Near Independence Hall I found what I thought was the National Library Museum. There were many signs outside supporting the concept of sharing ideas throughout history. I went in. I hoped to get a pro-library sticker for my suitcase. It eventually dawned on me that this was the National Liberty Museum. I hope it isn’t something right-wing. I bought a “Free Speech” sticker anyway.
At the Delaware River I turned south, and then zig-zagged up to the museum. You know my impression of the Benjamin Franklyn Parkway by now. I don’t know what used to be there before it was built, but I bet it was more interesting.
I ascended the so-called “Rocky Steps.” Did you know there are two statues or Rocky at that location? I did not pose with it. I actually found a third statue of Rocky at the City Hall Visitor’s Center. But that’s another story.
I looked in the front doors of the museum. It was too late in the day to devote myself to art, and I wasn’t dressed for it. I just wanted to look in the gift shop. I assumed they had one. But it seems you needed to pay $30 just to enter the lobby. So I closed the door and turned away. Maybe next time.
So now I went back down the Rocky Steps in much better condition than Rocky did.
I turned south and looked into the Trader Joes to see what that was like. I was once again disappointed with their products and exited. From here I went back to the hotel.
This was all accomplished in about 4.5 hours wearing my five-year-old Adidas Sambas — the sneaker that never lets you down. Please also note, I did not need to drink a glass of raw eggs at any point of my day.
After resting and re-hydrating for 3/4 of an hour, I left to get coffee at Black Turtle Coffee. They are very good. Then I picked-up an equally good caesar salad at Di Bruno Brothers.
In short — stuff it, Rocky!
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Surely in imperial thats 7 miles, 15 queequogs, and a yablooney or something? .75 sounds awful metric to me!
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That was amazing.
Well actually… it was 56 furlongs and 60 chains. But I didn’t bring my surveying equipment.
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(From ToS…)
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if anyone is unfamiliar with the time Bill Burr played Philly, about 12 minutes before he was contractually obligated to finish the show, the heckling got bad enough to break his concentration; whereupon, he launched into a poisonous, free-form, curse-filled rant about all the ways Philly sucks, with some particularly choice words about Rocky. (cued to relevant part.)
the whole thing is pretty incredible. and rather than just leaving the stage, this way he could dis them and still get paid.
[full disclosure: I visited Philly once to see the Dead Milkmen and had a blast, personally]
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