Spectators gather near the Beltline in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward to view the solar eclipse on Monday, April 8, 2024.
(Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Atlanta’s Beltline has created almost 100,000 jobs, attracting more than $14 billion in private investments, according to a new analysis on the urban trail system’s economic impact.
The report estimates that the Beltline generated $23 billion in economic output for Atlanta, with $31 million in tax revenue for the city and over $100 million to the state of Georgia last year.
It’s hard to find someone in Atlanta who hasn’t biked or walked on the Beltline, possibly with a matcha drink in hand.
According to a recent analysis produced by Philadelphia-based consultancy Econsult Solutions Inc., around 2.5 million people visit the Beltline every year. And they spend over $52 million on coffee, dining and other local businesses.
Atlanta Beltline President and CEO Clyde Higgs said many of the jobs being created are bringing workers and residential activity back to parts of the city that have suffered from years of disinvestment.
“We are an economic and community development project that just happens to use a trail to push community benefits at the end of the day,” said Higgs.
A cyclist peddles down the Atlanta Beltline on May 6, 2025. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
In total, private developers have completed 318 projects, with 93 more on the way.
“We have 356 University, which is on the South Side Trail, where there’s been a history of underinvestment and disinvestment for years,” said Kelvin Collins, vice president of economic development for the Atlanta Beltline.
“So the Beltline is actually part of that reinvestment in community, but we’re doing it in a way that encourages affordability, deep and long-term affordability both for residents and for small businesses across the entire corridor,” added Collins.
He said they are committed to increasing the number of affordable commercial spaces using the almost 100 acres of land they have already acquired.
“That’s why we have a program called Beltline Marketplace, where we’ve set up shipping containers along the trail, where a small business can not only get an affordable space, but they can also get an incubator training where we help them with their business operation,” said Collins.
BeltLine officials say Murphy’s Crossing is part of an overall more aggressive land acquisition strategy, which will ultimately lead to more housing affordability and equitable redevelopment.
Beltline officials say it has delivered over 4,000 affordable housing units by the end of 2025.
Clyde Higgs said the final segment of the Atlanta Beltline’s south side trail will open in a few weeks, just in time for this summer’s global soccer tournament.
“It’s all ahead of the World Cup. And so a lot of the global visitors will be able to traverse a number of Beltline communities, and then they also can go directly into Mercedes-Benz and watch the games if they choose to do so,” Higgs said.
He said he is confident that the full 22-mile loop of parks, multi-use trails and local businesses will be completed, along with the promised affordable housing units, by 2030.
