My new granddog, Randy, and I pulled into the large parking lot at the Bankhead MARTA Station on Donald Hollowell Parkway in northwest Atlanta on a beautiful, but scorching hot, Friday afternoon in June. Our mission: walk on the Proctor Creek Greenway, which officially opened to the public in early May.
From the Gary Avenue Trailhead (accessed on the opposite side of the MARTA station from the parking lot), we walked a few hundred yards past abandoned industrial buildings, rounded a curve on the 12-foot, multi-use path and found ourselves in another world.
Standing on a bridge over Proctor Creek, we gazed at what could have been a mountain stream rushing over and around rocks; blue sky and clouds were reflected in the water and mature trees lined the banks of the creek. City noise disappeared and bird sounds were noticeable. It was shockingly peaceful.
Winding through a mature forest and past meadows of wild bergamot and other wildflowers, we crossed impressive bridges spanning the creek, its tributaries and low-lying areas. Overhead power lines prevail in one exposed area, sewer manholes dot the landscape, and a few older residences can be seen in one place while construction is in process in another. Otherwise, nature dominates on the Proctor Creek Greenway.
Being respectful of the day’s heat, Randy and I turned around at Johnson Road, having traveled about half of the three mile section of trail completed to date; ultimately, it will extend a total of seven miles to the Chattahoochee River and include 400 acres of greenspace. Along our way, we encountered nine other visitors, most of whom who were exploring the greenway for the first time: strolling, walking dogs, biking and jogging.
Originating in Downtown near Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Proctor Creek flows nine miles through neighborhoods, parks and industrial areas to the river. Despite its reputation as one of the most polluted streams in Atlanta, the waterway’s beauty and its cleanliness in some areas wasn’t a complete surprise to me. As the director of Chattahoochee Riverkeeper (CRK) for two decades, I saw the many faces of this urban stream and its tributaries.
The historic split-personality of the Proctor Creek watershed has long been evident in its raging floodwaters (thanks to the highly impervious upstream watershed), sewage overflows, erosion, trash and cement-lined ditches – coupled with stretches containing deep pools of clear water, small waterfalls, wildlife, mature forests and, today, much-improved water quality.
Proctor Creek’s potential to become an amenity connecting neighborhoods now isolated from each other was obvious to early watershed advocates, notably Na’Taki Osborne Jelks and Darryl Haddock of the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance; they and other local leaders have worked heroically for years to successfully raise the profile of the area.
In the late 1990s, the creek received additional help when CRK settled its lawsuit against the city of Atlanta for chronic sewage overflows, including those impacting Proctor Creek from the city’s dilapidated sewer system. Under the settlement, $112 million was spent for system upgrades, completed a decade ago, and 132 tons of trash was removed. Yet, despite a significant reduction in pollution levels, water quality problems continued. An increasing array of partners began to engage in new projects and strategies.
Five years ago, Proctor Creek was designated to be among Priority Urban Waters by a federal partnership that strives to empower underserved communities by reconnecting area residents to their local waterways. In addition to the city’s ongoing financial commitment, significant federal resources and technical expertise have been brought to bear and are making the huge difference that can now be seen in the area.
Continuing its commitment to the Proctor Creek watershed, CRK has been monitoring water quality weekly for years – currently at eighteen locations with nine community volunteers. Working with the city, nearly two-dozen illegal sewer connections have been located and stopped – most recently, an eight-inch line discharging untreated sewage from West End Mall into the creek. Along with Park Pride, Conservation Fund and local groups, CRK is also focused on managing excess storm runoff using green infrastructure in a new community park.
The resources being invested in the Proctor Creek watershed are nothing short of phenomenal. Literally, dozens of government agencies, nonprofit organizations, foundations and neighborhood associations have come together to prove that this urban stream and its environs can be restored, can generate economic activity and can instill real community pride.
The Proctor Creek Greenway – a place where my granddog and I can “walk on the wild side” in the middle of the city – is one of the best results to date from these extraordinary partnerships.
Sally Bethea is the retired executive director of Chattahoochee Riverkeeper and current board president of Chattahoochee Parks Conservancy whose mission is to build a community of support for the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. Her Above the Waterline column recently won first place for opinion writing at the Georgia Press Association Awards.
