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Sometimes, you really can get hit with a lemon and make lemonade. That's what happened after GA 400 construction was started in 1990, despite a 20-year community battle against highway pollution. My husband David and I worried that Atlanta might never escape the automobile when a new idea suddenly lifted the gloom: If the state wouldn't do it for us, why not form a citizen's foundation to create non-polluting, alternative transportation?
Not long afterwards a new group was born in our basement to build bicycle and pedestrian paths throughout Atlanta. This would be our lemonade. I named the group People of Atlanta for Trails Here, or PATH, and served as Vice President. David, a tax attorney, secured 501(c)(3) non-profit status for PATH, making it possible for our donors to claim a tax exemption. People handed us $5 or $10 for brochures, and we were on our way!
Of course, it took a lot of hard-working people to make PATH a success. Ed McBrayer, an engineer who had built bike trails in Colorado, made the group his full-time job. While I performed organizational chores, Ed and his associate, Pete Pelligrini, provided the professional know-how to begin transforming Atlanta into a walking and biking city.
We needed money, manpower, and land. REI sporting goods and the Buckhead Coalition (ironically, one of the groups we'd been battling over GA 400) were our first sponsors. PATH produced an award-winning plan for bike trails, and was designated the city's official trail builder. In 1992 we started the Stone Mountain Trail, and former Mayor Maynard Jackson liked it enough to put me in touch with the famous
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musician Lionel Hampton, who owned a strip of urban forest near Flamingo Road. Hampton donated the land, and powered by additional financing from city, state, and federal coffers, we then built the Lionel Hampton Trail.
It's been ten years since PATH was born. We now have 65 miles of lovely bike and walking trails winding through Atlanta neighborhoods, plus the remarkable Silver Comet, extending from Atlanta to the Alabama state line. On "The Comet," you can glide through rural landscapes on a smooth, flat trail that was once an abandoned railroad bed. Your only companions will be other bicyclists or walkers and the abundant wildlife that peek at you from the surrounding forests. No motorized vehicles are allowed on PATH trails; you'll be completely, gloriously safe. All PATH trails are professionally monitored and maintained. Users range from pro bikers to toddlers trying out their training wheels.
PATH has hundreds of members ($25 per year), thousands of users, and a board that is made up of top business and community leaders. Our special "angels" are Jim and Sarah Kennedy. Jim is chairman and CEO of Cox Enterprises and an avid bicyclist; Sarah is a superb organizer and fund-raiser. We publish a newsletter, trail maps, and bicycle information. The trail closest to our neighborhood is the Chastain Park Trail, which winds around the golf course and continues up and around the horse barn. If you want a longer workout, visit the Stone Mountain Trail, Freedom Parkway to Centennial Park, Westside Trail, or others. For information, call PATH offices at 404-875-7284 (pathfoundation.org).
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