Snellville approves plan for walking, biking trails throughout city

Snellville City Council has approved a plan to create a network of trails through the city.

Credit: City of Snellville

Credit: City of Snellville

Snellville City Council has approved a plan to create a network of trails through the city.

Snellville City Council approved the Greenway Master plan this week, clearing the path for a system of four recreation and transportation trails to be built within the city.

The plan was approved unanimously. It is intended to increase Snellville’s walkability, city planner Austin Shelton said in a city release.

“The goal is to create a vibrant, walkable and human-scaled downtown for the city, and the idea behind the greenway plan is to give Snellville residents more options to walk and bike, without having to first drive to a park across town,” Shelton said. “Having a walkable downtown is all well and good, but if there is no way to actually walk to downtown then we are missing a big piece of the puzzle. The hope is to connect every part of Snellville to downtown and give residents more choice on how they get around.”

The shortest path in the plan would be the Towne Center Spine, which would run 0.7 miles parallel to Wisteria Drive. A 2.2-mile path is planned to connect Oak Road Park to T.W. Briscoe Park, passing through Towne Center.

A 4.5-mile path will connect Snellville to neighboring Lawrenceville, running along North Road and Old Snellville Highway. The longest path, at almost five miles long, is planned to run along Main Street West, connecting Snellville to trails around Stone Mountain.

The plan’s approval is one step in a long term process: the project could be completed by 2040, according to the city.

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