Active Transportation Along the Beltline

An urban walking/biking trail is a great way to promote health and wellness of area residents and promote active living.  The Atlanta Beltline promotes active transportation by designing pathways that are only accessible by foot or other non motorized means of travel.  As such, bicycles, roller skates/blades, skateboards....are readily seen when walking or running the trail.  The use of these methods promote active transportation to and from parks and green space areas along the trail or restaurants or even grocery stores.   Active transportation also assists in not only improving our physical health by encouraging exercise in a fun, engaging matter but also promotes environmental health as well.  The less dependent residents are on cars, buses and trains the more ecological improvement can be made to our physical environment.  Fewer motorized vehicles being used for routine activities, such as errands to the store or dinner plans, reduces the carbon footprint making residents better stewards over the earth and its natural resources.   A positive, although possibly unintended, side effect of this design to encourage active transportation is it works to mitigate safety and security risks to a certain extent as well. This staircase, in the above photo, from Highland Avenue is an example of the engineering promoting active transportation while reducing access to the trail. The Eastside trail is not accessible by motorized vehicles, but area residents can park nearby and take footpaths to access the trail. Interestingly, the Atlanta police department has a police presence as occasionally police smart/electric cars can be seen parked in the area and sometimes on the beltline itself. But, they also are likely to have police officers on bikes patrolling the area too. The photo below is of a smart car used to patrol the Beltline by Atlanta police officers.