The Atlanta BeltLine takes a ring of abandoned rail corridor and turns it into a 22-mile loop of paved trail, parks and planned transit around the city's center. It is one of the largest public-realm projects in the country, and it was largely paid for through tax allocation districts that capture the new property tax revenue growth along the corridor to repay construction bonds.

The promise and the pressure

That financing model depends on land values rising. When the first completed segment, the Eastside Trail, opened, prices along it climbed quickly, and neighborhoods that had been affordable for generations of Black homeowners and renters became some of the most expensive in the city. Atlanta responded with inclusionary zoning along the corridor in 2018, requiring affordable units in new apartment buildings, and BeltLine leaders set an affordable housing goal. Supply has consistently trailed the demand.

What to watch

The unfinished segments — on the south and west sides, in majority-Black neighborhoods — are the live question. Whether the loop connects those residents to new housing and transit, or accelerates their exit, is the test of whether the BeltLine is an equity project or a growth project.