Kendra Calhoun, left, and Linda Wiley get in some exercise on GPC’s Decatur Campus. A 3.1-mile concrete trail, which includes a boardwalk-style bridge over Doolittle Creek, now connects the campus with the South River Trail System. (Photo by Bill Roa)

by Kysa Anderson Daniels

The south DeKalb County community can enjoy greater access to nature and fitness options because Georgia Perimeter College’s Decatur Campus is now connected to the South River Trail System.

Over the summer, construction crews began work on the final stretch of the project, which features a 3.1-mile, tree-lined concrete trail leading from the west side of GPC’s Decatur Campus on Clifton Church Road and connecting to Gresham Park. The completed South River Trail System stretches 5.5 miles from the Atlanta Radio Control Club on Constitution Road to GPC. Trailhead parking is at Entrenchment Creek Trailhead on International Park Drive.

“I grew up riding horses through this property,” recalls Rick Bertaccini, the Georgia Perimeter facilities manager who worked with Lewallen Construction and the PATH Foundation to complete the $2.3 million federally funded DeKalb County project.

The trail’s development is part of the DeKalb County Master Plan created in 2000 under the leadership of PATH, a nonprofit group focused on developing interlinking greenway trails throughout metro Atlanta for commuting and recreation.

Jonathan McCaig, a PATH Foundation project manager, says the final piece of the South River Trail System is funded through the Georgia Department of Transportation enhancement program and sponsored by DeKalb County and PATH.

The 3.1-mile trail connection to Georgia Perimeter includes a 260-foot boardwalk-style bridge over Doolittle Creek. Crews removed the old staircase bridge early in the summer. About 100 yards of GPC property is included in the previously wooded area along the South River.