By Collin Kelley

Intown Editor

If you live near or frequent the area around Irwin Street where the paved portion of the Atlanta BeltLine Eastside Trail currently ends (or begins depending on your direction of travel) you’ll know that the amount of walkers and cyclists has significantly increased.

New yield for pedestrian signs have been placed and the once rough bump over the old embedded railroad tracks is now paved and smooth. With the reconstruction of the Edgewood Avenue Bridge still ongoing, many of those walkers and cyclists are now hanging a left off the BeltLine onto Irwin and proceeding to Krog Street to cross over to Wylie Street and pick up the BeltLine trail in Reynoldstown.

Utilizing Krog and Wylie are all part of the plan to get trail users across the CSX Husley Yard, according to Beltline communications director Ethan Davidson. Reconstruction of the Edgewood Bridge is still expected to be completed by Spring 2014, despite workers running into some problems with utilities at the site.

Davidson said once the bridge is finished, BeltLine users would begin to see more activity on extending the paved portion of the Eastside Trail from Irwin down to DeKalb Avenue. In the meantime, work will begin in Cabbagetown and Reynoldstown early next year on improvements to Wylie Street.

Marked bike lanes will be added to Wylie, along with medians and new, staggered parking on the north and south sides of the street.

Davidson said the environmental study process is still ongoing at Hulsey Yard, which will determine how the BeltLine will cross the busy rail yard. “Once the environmental part is done, it moves us closer to preliminary engineering and design,” he said. “It will be a big milestone for the BeltLine once we’ve decided the best way to cross Hulsey Yard.”

Until the Hulsey issue is solved, the iconic Krog Street Tunnel will be a temporary connector, and the BeltLine is working with the city on improvements to the tunnel to make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists including guardrails and lighting.

Other BeltLine updates of note: