Placemaking Community: Marietta’s Mountain to River Trail Activation Study
Connecting trail users in Marietta and Cobb County
North Loop Bridge on the Mountains To River Trail
The Georgia Conservancy is working with the City of Marietta to better connect users with the metro-Atlanta community’s Mountain to River Trail.
The Mountain to River Trail, known as M2R for short, is a multi-use trail that stretches across jurisdictions and landscapes from Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park to the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. The trail is a multi-agency effort between Cobb County and the City of Marietta to create bike and pedestrian trail opportunities to connect these two major public lands destinations. Approximately 3.5 miles of the trail is within the city limits of Marietta. The trail was built during the last decade, with the entire stretch nearly complete, bar a few southern segments in unincorporated Cobb County.
With the trail going directly through Downtown Marietta, it is one of the city’s top recreational and local economic assets, bringing multitudes of users to shops and activities in the city’s core. Recognizing the potential to create improved connectivity and better utilize the trail as a local economic development asset, the City initiated a trail activation study to explore ideas of how to improve trail design, programming, and amenities. In working with the Atlanta Regional Commission’s (ARC) Community Development Assistance Program (CDAP), the City connected with the Georgia Conservancy for the trail activation study, which will continue into Spring 2024.
The Georgia Conservancy’s Sustainable Growth Program has been a longtime technical assistance partner for the CDAP program. We are thrilled to be working with another Metro community to enhance public infrastructure with the goal of providing recreational and transportation opportunities for trail users throughout the region. As part of the study, we will be working to lead community engagement and feedback opportunities, studying land use around the trail, and making recommendations on how to improve trail usability, design, and activation.
PROJECT PARTNERS
Questions? Reach out to Georgia Conservancy Design Lead Luben Raytchev at lraytchev@gaconservancy.org
