SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — The Atlanta Regional Commission has stepped in with an $18 million grant to help Sandy Springs construct all segments of PATH400 from its southern border with Atlanta to Central Perimeter.
The Sandy Springs City Council approved a budget amendment to accept the funding windfall May 6 after discussing the immense impact on regional connectivity and the build-out of the city’s Springway Trail Plan.
City Councilman Andy Bauman said the project is transformative, and the connectivity between cities and neighborhoods will propel the community forward.
Sandy Springs TSPLOST Program Manager Allen Johnson said the grant allows the city to construct the full 2.3-mile path from Loridans Drive within the city of Atlanta to an existing multi-use path built as a part of the Transform Ga. 400 and I-285 project.
“Segments one and three are currently in construction,” Johnson said. “At the end of the year, ARC said … these other jurisdictions can’t use the money, would you be willing to take it?”
Instead of the initial $4 million grant extended to the city in November, Sandy Springs received $18 million for final design and construction of the middle segment of PATH400 through the city.
One reason is the city’s strong finances.
Because of the project’s regional significance, the Atlanta Regional Commission recently announced an additional $18 million grant offer to construct the second, middle segment. That piece runs from Windsor Parkway to just north of Ridgeview Middle School within the High Point neighborhood.
Once complete, the greenway will stretch 5.2 miles from Central Perimeter to planned segments of the Atlanta Beltline and Peachtree Creek Greenway in DeKalb County. It’s an already popular 12-foot-wide path along the spine of Ga. 400.
“Our planning staff has done a good job coordinating with ARC to get these [funds],” Johnson said. “We always asked for the funding … often jurisdictions ask for everything and then they cannot use the money, and the ARC has to reallocate it.”
The city is setting aside an estimated $5.75 million for its local match for construction.
A budget amendment is needed because a new project is being created for the middle segment, the funding amount exceeds the city manager’s discretion and overall expenditures are being increased. However, staff says there is no financial impact to the city because of re-assigned grant dollars, the use of $2 million in capital contingency and leftover funding.
Construction on the middle segment is expected to begin next summer, Johnson said.
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“In four years, it will be done, hopefully it will be done earlier than that,” he said.
City Councilman Tibby DeJulio said if people head north of Lordans Drive along Ga. 400, they can already see construction work on the east side of the state route.
“People were asking me, and it sounded crazy that we were doing one and three but not two,” DeJulio said. “This means I can tell people we’re doing the whole thing now.”
Because of protections for an endangered bat species that roosts near Nancy Creek, contractors were required to remove trees before March 31 to avoid delays with a ban on tree clearing until fall.
Atlanta is funding construction of the 12-foot-wide multi-use trail from Loridans Drive to its city limits. Sandy Springs is then building the path’s bridge over Nancy Creek. Motorists along Ga. 400 can now see the path’s corridor.
“This project’s been around since 2017 … we started off with the design, right-of-way, pre-construction funding,” Johnson said. Because the city set aside design funding for PATH400 in its 2016 TSPLOST budget, he said his department has been managing the project. Fulton County’s TSPLOST program, approved by voters in 2016 and 2021, gives the city a share of sales tax revenue for transportation improvements.
Last May, the city funded the more than $20 million in construction of the first and third segment.
The Georgia Department of Transportation, which owns the right-of-way along Ga. 400, is funding 80 percent of the project’s costs through disbursement of federal grants.
Other Sandy Springs and Perimeter Community Improvement District projects are set to connect PATH400 at Peachtree Dunwoody Road into multi-use paths in Dunwoody’s trail network and to City Springs along Mount Vernon Highway.
Public Works Director Marty Martin says the city’s relationship with the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Georgia Department of Transportation is strong, helping pull the construction funding together.
Mayor Rusty Paul said acquiring the funds for the massive construction project, estimated around $40 million, took a team effort. He said other cities couldn’t provide a match, but Sandy Springs could because of its financial management.
“It’s still just a relatively small part of our total trail network, but it’s a key part,” Paul said. “Because we’re a linchpin for all these regional trails, they all come together here; This is a very important milestone.”