Alpharetta City Council has approved a $15.99 million design-build contract to construct the Alpha Link, a 1.2-mile paved trail that will finally close the gap between the city's two major multi-use path systems, the Alpha Loop and the Big Creek Greenway. The trail will run parallel to GA 400 between Haynes Bridge Road and Encore Parkway, stretching from the Alpha Loop near Morrison Lake to a new gateway near Encore Parkway and North Point Parkway. No construction start date has been announced yet.
According to CBS News, the project is expected to take about 18.5 months to build once work begins. The city says the funding for the Alpha Link comes through a combination of TSPLOST II funds, the city's Parks Bond, and impact fees. Alpharetta City Council member John Hipes broke down those numbers in more detail, saying the $15.99 million budget includes $10 million from TSPLOST II, $4.04 million from the city's 2021 Parks Bond, and $974,551 from the Impact Fee Fund, according to a Facebook post detailing the council vote.
A 12-Foot-Wide Link Between Two Trail Networks
The Alpha Link is designed as a 12-foot-wide, fully lit multi-use paved trail, according to planning specifications. Once finished, it will connect the Alpha Loop, which currently includes 6 miles of trails, to the Big Creek Greenway, which currently includes more than 12 miles of trails. The Big Creek Greenway itself is part of a roughly 26-mile network stretching across North Metro Atlanta, with about 12 miles inside Alpharetta and nearly 16 miles running north through Forsyth County to Sawnee Mountain Preserve, according to Forsyth County.
The Alpha Loop got its start in April 2020, when its first mile opened and linked downtown Alpharetta and Avalon while connecting three public parks along the way. The master plan for the full Alpha Loop system envisions a 3-mile inner loop tying together downtown Alpharetta, Avalon, and Northwinds, plus a planned 5.25-mile outer loop, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
True North 400 Chips In for a New Gateway Plaza
True North 400, the self-taxing business improvement district formerly known as the North Fulton Community Improvement District, is contributing $977,411 toward a new plaza at Fanfare Way and Encore Parkway as part of the Encore Greenway Park and Gateway. The organization, established in 2003, previously committed $250,000 toward Alpha Loop design costs and has worked with the city on multi-use paths along Northwinds Parkway, according to True North 400.
Construction on the Encore Greenway Park and Gateway began in February 2025, and the project is scheduled for completion in December 2026, according to True North 400. That gateway effort, paired with the Alpha Link, will give the Big Creek Greenway a formal entry point tied directly into the North Point corridor's retail and office hubs.
Where the Money Comes From
The largest slice of Alpha Link funding, $10 million, traces back to TSPLOST II, the countywide 0.75-percent Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax that Fulton County voters approved on November 2, 2021. The $4.04 million municipal bond contribution stems from a separate ballot measure the same day, when Alpharetta voters approved a $29.5 million Parks and Recreation General Obligation Bond referendum, according to the Fulton County Government. Together, the two 2021 tax measures now account for the bulk of the trail's public financing five years later.
The Atlanta Regional Commission has also backed the broader vision behind the Alpha Link, awarding a $1,000,000 Livable Centers Initiative grant in March 2022 for a North Point Alpha Link connection study. That study examined how to improve multi-modal access between retail centers, trail networks, and potential future GA 400 transit stops, according to the Atlanta Regional Commission.
Trail Investment Tied to Development and Bike-Share
The Alpha Loop has increasingly become a selling point for private development along the GA 400 corridor. The 62-acre Lakeview Park mixed-use development at Haynes Bridge Road and GA 400, zoned for 630,000 square feet of office space and 315 residential units, was planned with trail access built in, according to Awesome Alpharetta.
Alpharetta has also moved to shore up non-vehicular transportation options elsewhere in the city. This month, the city approved a $60,000, five-year bike-share contract with Tandem Mobility to operate 25 public bicycles across five hubs, including locations at True North 400 and Avalon, according to a report from Hayes Reich.
Several questions remain unresolved. The city has not announced an exact construction start date for the Alpha Link, and it is unclear how the project will handle disruptions along the GA 400 corridor once work begins. It is also not yet clear how the trail's lower-elevation connections near the Big Creek Greenway will address flood mitigation, a concern Hoodline previously reported after high water swamped yards along low-lying sections of the greenway near Kimball Bridge Road.
