The Mayor and Commission are looking into the next section of Greenway— to be constructed along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive— providing a more Greenway-like connection between the entrance at the North Avenue Bridge and Dudley Park, using concrete and boardwalk.
A segment of the North Oconee River Greenway, the .7 length of trail is funded partly by TSPLOST 2023 funds and by a Transportation Alternatives Program grant administered by the Georgia Department of Transportation.
MLK Greenway Agenda item PDF
MLK Greenway Cost Breakdown
The below table from the agenda item is useful to understand not only the breakdown of and true cost of a Greenway project, but the complexities of multiple funding sources.
On the agenda item for the project, ACC staff say:
By utilizing the TAP grant and the GDOT Project Development Process (PDP), ACCGov will be eligible to apply for additional design services and construction funding via the GDOT TAP grant program, hopefully securing a large portion of the overall design and construction cost with [T]SPLOST funding as the matching source.
The upcoming Mayor and Commission vote on June 2 is about additional design services for the project, not approving the section of Greenway itself. A concept was approved back in 2018.
Construction schedule for the MLK Greenway
With GDOT’s involvement, staff’s understanding is that construction on the section North Oconee Greenway along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive will begin in 2030.
See the GDOT Process Schedule
- Construction Award: June 2030
- GDOT Management Concept Report Approval: June 2026
- Engineering Phase Completion: June 2028
- Right-of-way acquisition (none anticipated)
- Utility Relocation Phase: June 2029
You can view the project page here.
Expediency is importation for trail construction
It important for expediency with trail funding due to how long it takes for a Greenway to exist on-the-ground. The section along MLK was first proposed in TSPLOST 2018, but funds ran out. Friends of the Greenway is rebuilding momentum in tail construction. There are nearly 100 miles of proposed, unbuilt Greenway in the network plan.
If you’d like to help build us more trail, donate or send us an email.
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