SILVER COMET TRAIL

The 'Silver Comet Trail' is a paved, multi-use, recreational trail that begins in Smyrna, Georgia, runs west through Paulding and Polk counties and connects with Alabama's Chief Ladiga Trail at the Georgia-Alabama border. Georgia's most ambitious rails-to-trails project, it is named for the Silver Comet passenger train that used the identical route from 1947 to 1968.
As of March, 2007, all but 2.5 miles of the 60 mile Silver Comet Trail are paved and open for riding. The remaining gap is planned to be constructed later in 2007. When construction on the Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga is finished, the trails will join to form one continuous 93-mile trail from Smyrna, Georgia to Anniston, Alabama.^[1]
Future plans include extending the Georgia end of the trail into the Atlanta city limits. According to the Cobb County Dept of Transportation, the eastern extension of the trail will extend to the Cumberland-Galleria area, the largest employment Center in Cobb County.

Contents

History

External links

History

In 1947, the Silver Comet Train was introduced by the Seaboard Air-Line Railway during the height of the Rail Era. Due to the rising popularity of airline travel, the Silver Comet was downgraded in the mid 1950s, losing its sleeper-lounger cars. In 1969, the Silver Comet was downgraded again and finally discontinued by the end of the year. In 1986, the Seaboard Air-Line Railway, along with numerous other railways, merged with the CSXT.
In 1989, the CSX Railroad informed the state of Georgia it was abandoning the 36 miles of railroad from Cobb County, through Paulding and Polk Counties; the former Silver Comet Train’s route through Georgia. By 1990, the idea of turning the abandoned rail into a multi-use trail formed by multiple groups, including the Georgia Rails-Into-Trails group.
In 1992, the Georgia Department of Transportation bought the abandoned CSX rail line for future use as a high-speed transit route, but later that year Ron Griffith, Director of Cobb County Parks, requested a lease agreement between Cobb County and the Georgia DOT to use the rail line as a multi-use trail. The Cobb County Board of Commissioners approved the multi-use trail plan in November. In January of 1995, the East-West Connector agreement was signed with an included requirement of Cobb County to develop a plan for converting the rail into a trail.
The Cobb County Board of Commissioners allowed Cobb Land Trust a budget of $30,000 for the county to acquire a consultant to help develop a design for the multi-use trail in 1996 and a year later the Board allocated $900,000 for the development of a 2-mile section of the rail-trail next to Heritage Park to test the multi-use trail idea. In July of 1998, construction of the Silver Comet Trail began.
By November of the same year, the first section of the Silver Comet Trail opened from Nickajack Creek to Hicks Road. In 2003, the trail was recognized by the National Park Service as a national recreational trail.

External links

★ The Silver Comet Trail in Cobb County, Georgia (official site)

★ Information about the Silver Comet Trail at the PATH Foundation

★ PATH Foundation newsletter with construction updates

★ Information about the Silver Comet Trail at TrailExpress

★ Silver Comet Trail Map (google mashup)

★ Silver Comet Trail Page at RailsToTrails.us