The Atlanta Beltline Emerald Necklace project, prepared by, Alex Garvin and Associates Inc., ties together proposed and existing trails along the 23 mile long Beltline Trail in Atlanta, Georgia. This project will provide every resident of the city with jogging, rollerblading, and cycling opportunities. This project will also include the conservation of land for future generations by transforming current space into parks. Moreover, “by tying together 46 neighborhoods with each other and three new MARTA stations, the 20 mile long Beltline Transit system will provide access to every major destination in Atlanta” which will include the acres that make up the Beltline Emerald Necklace (Alex Garvin & Associates, Inc., 2004). Overall, the Beltline …show more content…
The $25 million Greenway Acquisition Project (GAP) will play a major role in funding the construction of the Beltline Trail and acquiring the right-of-way to the trail (Alex Garvin & Associates, Inc., 2004). This project will acquire and protect targeted areas in perpetuity as buffer areas. These buffer areas will be protected from development and provide a vegetated filter for surface run off. In addition, the vegetated filter will protect the land from erosion. The procurement of these areas will be solely through voluntary or contribution sales at no value greater than fair market price and will be maintained by the city. These areas will provide land and funding for the Beltline by their demolition and/or redevelopment of properties in compliance with the stream buffer (Alex Garvin & Associates, Inc., 2004). The combined funds received from acquisitions and GAP may be beneficial to go towards the construction of the Beltline Trail. Following the creation of the Beltline Trail, the capital cost of developing the Beltline Transit is estimated to be around $400 million to $1.2 billion (Alex Garvin & Associates, Inc., 2004). Initially, the invested costs must be provided by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that will be reimbursed. The NGOs initial money to secure the right-of-way for the trail will be …show more content…
To maintain the operation and maintenance of parks and trails there is a need to implement a financing mechanism to address costs. Since the Beltline is a multi-use trail, revenue can be received from easements, leaseholds, purchases, contractual agreements and land swaps (Alex Garvin & Associates, Inc., 2004). More specifically, a proven effective alternative mechanisms to finance park operations includes lease payments, fees, real estate taxes, sales tax, and Community Improvement Districts (CIDs) (Alex Garvin & Associates, Inc., 2004). Currently, Atlanta has nine CIDs (Alex Garvin & Associates, Inc., 2004). Fees are a source of revenue that could be levied on the operation of concessions such as festivals, snack bars and newsstands.
In conclusion, the BeltLine Emerald Necklace is a project that is sustainably good for the environment and the bottom line. The payback period for the investment on this project includes the initial investment up till the TAD and ARC’s funding becomes available. Moreover, this investment is not only sustainable for the environment but also the community. It would also be good for business by adding more train stops and accessibility to a greater population in Atlanta. Furthermore, this project did not include a specific cost-benefit
2. List the possible resources that the town would need to construct and maintain the park?
The purpose of this grant is to connect the southern, Hanging Rock trail, to the north, Superior trail, a six mile radius. The Hanging Rock trail is south of State Route 650 and the Superior trail north of the Country Road 27. Along with acting as a trail connector it will prevent soil erosion, control water runoff, and help prevent further resource damage by avoiding the destruction of remote territories. The Pine Grove ATV Connectors will enhance the ATV trails for a more desirable ride experience, much like those in the neighboring states. With the increase in desirable ride experience, this would lead to economic advantages by bringing a large amount of tourists in the region. With the growth of urban development, city dwellers want to
The Greener Beltline in Atlanta project will introduce bike stops along the Beltline for a low cost to rent as an appealing alternative to transportation, exercise, and leisure time. This project will lessen the amount of mobile emissions in the city of Atlanta and increase the community’s quality of life. Moreover, this project will also provide resources and community engagements for local adolescents, adults, and bike organizations of the community. The resources and community engagements will be on the weekly basis and based on a monthly calendar located at each resource center and bike stop along the trail. Due to the Greener Beltline in Atlanta project being a project addition to an existing project, there may be more challenges faced than normal. One challenge that this may cause is the risk associated with adding an additional project onto their current project. The Greener Beltline in
In 1929, the vision for the Bay Circuit Trail & Greenway was proposed by The Trustees of Reservations. Its purpose was to create an “outer Emerald Necklace” to mirror the string of designed parks created by Fredrick Law Olmsted; “over the next several decades, various public and private parks and reservations were established in the area between what is now Route 128 and Interstate 495, but they failed to keep pace with commercial and residential development” (BCT website). Although this idea was initially implemented, it wasn’t until the 1980s where this trail & greenway project re-established, and in 1990 the Bay Circuit Alliance was formed to help make this dream a reality. An alliance of hundreds of volunteers spanning from 37 of the contributing towns in Eastern Massachusetts, wanted to create a trail the links several parks and open spaces ranging from Plum Island to Duxbury/Kinston Bay. By doing so they wanted to provide “a place for recreation
Whenever the federal government makes a proposal for expansion and improvement of publicly maintained roads and utilities, it evaluates which communities,private properties and businesses will be affected. As cities and towns are expanding and undertaking improvements to roadways, sewer and power lines, communications, and other systems, and to meet the demands of rise in population, the government must often secure or acquire access to private land.
The Central Artery/Tunnel Project, also known as the Big Dig, is one of the most expensive, technically challenging, and largest public projects in American history. The Big Dig was a super-project that was created to reroute the “Central Artery of Interstate 93, the main roadway through the core of the city, into the 1.5 mile Thomas P. O’Neill Jr. Tunnel.” The construction of the Big Dig “untangled the co-mingled” traffic in Boston, Massachusetts and resulted in a 62% decrease in vehicle hours of travel and reduced the afternoon peak hour by a massive 85.6%.
The first group talked about Public tollways and why they are absolutely necessary. Toll roads can be built at no cost to taxpayers. The first idea of toll streets was to raise reserves for roadway upkeep by putting the weight of users, as opposed to neighborhood citizens. Today open organizations offer long-term concession
Auburn has a massive community structure that spans the entire city. One particular attraction of Auburn's community centers is the availability of intramural sports for all ages. With sports ranging from tennis to judo and thirteen park locations, the recreational aptitude of the surrounding cities is much greater than that of Foresthill. However, club opportunities aren’t limited to athletic endeavors. Specific parks offer specific amenities, like music classes, card game clubs, medicare planning, knitting and crocheting, and ping pong. All of these activities generate revenue for the surrounding area, keep people in better shape for a longer time, and reduce crime rates in kids.
The traffic problem in Atlanta drains both time and money for thousands. It has been shown that Atlanta drivers spend on average 51 unnecessary hours behind the wheel each year (WSB Radio, 2013). That’s more than two 24 hour days spent sitting in traffic. During all this time spent, Atlantans end up spending upwards of $1000 per year on gas and collectively use 63,000,000 gallons of gas each year while sitting in traffic (WSB Radio, 2013). Traffic in Atlanta has been a huge waste of time and money for Atlantans for years and something needs to be done to alleviate the
High speed rail transportation has become an important issue in California that could potentially help our current transportation system and other environmental issues that need to be dealt with. This is an important issue to look into because currently our transportation system could be a lot more efficient using high speed rail instead of just the current car and air system that we have right now. Because of this there are a lot of potential benefits from the economic side of putting a high speed rail system in California from saving time, money, and fast efficient mobility throughout the state. These benefits also include a stimulus towards the state’s economy in forms of employment and income growth due towards construction and implementation even if these aren't permanent jobs. Some environmental benefits of a high speed transportation is a decrease in pollution, using less nonrenewable resources such as oil, and decreasing the amount of other modes of transportation that currently need to be used. It is controversial though because of the cost of implementing such high speed transportation, versus the current transportation system that we already have. These increasing costs of implementing the have current plan for high speed rail have caused great concern because of costs such high possible costs needed to implement compared to its benefits. My problem that I have come up with is it cost effective and beneficial for the state of
City improvements are probably the greatest achievement of the TIF program. In Columbus, Ohio the "TIF provides a tool to redevelop a long-neglected inner-city site (Ball 1999)." The site would call for a revamped on and off ramp on I-71. After completion there should be a marked decrease in "traffic congestion in the area (Ball 1999)." . Councilmen in Kansas City believe that "street upgrades are critical because they would provide a gateway to the proposed Town of Kansas Archeological Park (Davis 1999)." Roads are not the only benefactors of these programs. Overall aesthetics within the TIFs are also improved.
Commercial developers are essential as they have experience with building commercial centres and the local government representatives are needed to not only allow the project to commence, but to also find other stakeholders to fund the operation. In other successful “walkable community projects” the local government has seemed to be quite enthusiastic about funding projects.
The most famous park built in a rail road is located in New York. The High line was constructed in the 1930’s to make a transportation-fueled urban economy perform more profitably and to improve conditions ins New York city’s most heavily used public open spaces – its streets. However, no trains have traveled its tracks since the early 1980’s. The elevated rail bed was carpeted by meadow grass and wildflowers. So in 1999, a not-for-profit group of neighborhood residents, business, owners, design professionals, and civic groups joined to form the Friends of the High Line. Their mission was to bring the out-of-use viaduct into the federally sanctioned rail-banking program, which would open the rail deck to the public for use as a walkway, a gallery,
The website for the national and state park systems helps to enlighten the public on the subject of impending changes in policy and regulations, as well as new developments in different parks. Due to this, the parks and recreation districts judge that individuals and families will be more agreeable to the idea of traveling to parks in different states because of the easy accessibility of directions and information about the parks. Owing to the latest rise in interest of campgrounds and recreation areas, there has been an increase in funds. This new revenue has made possible the purchase of more parkland throughout the United States. Without prevailing use of the Internet, this most likely would not have been possible. The East Bay Park District has been able to purchase 1,476 of land. This is the single largest acquisition that the Park has made in over twenty years. The York Center Park District been able to purchase and protect a 20-acre area in the last five years. This is the largest area they manage. With the acquisition of supplementary parkland, it is more likely that this land will continue in its natural condition and not be converted into an urbanized region.
A branch within public facilities, public parks and recreation, attract 140 americans per year, collecting 646 billion dollars and 6.1 million jobs. However, in 2011, these facilities received 18.5 billion dollars less than needed, contributing towards the maintenance backlog that is estimated to cost 11 billion dollars (American Infrastructure Report Card). Schools, the other half of the public facilities examined in the 2013 Society of Civil Engineers report, remain neglected. The funding towards these schools continue to shrink. Although the current 10 billion dollars invested in school construction each year seems to embody a larger figure, it will cost 270 billion dollars to fully modernize and maintain our school facilities nationally (American Infrastructure Report Card). Due to the failing school and recreation systems, the Society gave the Public Facility category a