About 11 months since construction launched on the Atlanta Beltline’s Eastside Trail extension, the long-awaited civic amenity and alternate travel route is clearly coming down the home stretch.

Once seen as urban blight, abandoned industrial corridors and rail lines have been transformed into some of the country’s most popular parks and trails.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed announced a new fund to help residents in the Beltline pay their rising tax bills as home prices increase in the area.

For Ryan Gravel—an urban planner by training who initially proposed the concept of the BeltLine in his Georgia Tech master’s thesis—urban infrastructure can serve as a metaphor for an entire culture.

The trend toward urban living may be here to stay, but as residential towers rise higher and the amenities in buildings become more elaborate, people moving into cities are putting increased emphasis on connecting with the environment.

The BeltLine is far more than a glorified sidewalk, with adjacent parks, space for future transit, and even some pretty spectacular art.