The Silver Comet Trail in North Georgia has in many ways become the gold standard for turning abandoned rail lines into a viable pedestrian and biking lane-offering opportunities to revitalize and connect suburban and urban areas while encouraging a more active lifestyle.
Now cycling leaders in Chattanooga hope to find a way to connect to that trail system. The Silver Comet is a 61-mile trail that connects Smyrna, Georgia, on the outskirts of Atlanta, to the Georgia-Alabama border near Cedartown, Georgia. The fully paved trail, converted over a 10-year period from 1998 to 2008, attracts cyclists and walkers from throughout the region. This renewed interest has been a boost to small towns along its route.
“A lot of communities along the Silver Comet were drying up,” Chattanooga resident and cycling advocate Jim Johnson says. “They were dying, and today they’re thriving. There’s an impact on local businesses, there’s an impact on employment. There’s even an impact on property values, and therefore property taxes.
“A lot of studies have shown that the closer you are to rail trails, the higher the property value is. Because people want to be near rail trails.” Johnson, who owns Bike Tours Direct, is hoping to organize biking enthusiasts and develop a plan to create a rails-to-trails route connecting Chattanooga to the Silver Comet, creating a new trail system while also connecting this city to an existing and popular trail network.
The initiative is in its early phase, Johnson says, but meetings in May brought