The Westside Park is set to open at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday. It is the City of Atlanta’s largest planned greenspace. The area is poised to become Atlanta’s largest park. Located in northwest Atlanta, it will double as a water reservoir and a 280-acre park when complete. Plans for the first section call for walking trails, an open lawn, a grand overlook, and city views.
Westside Park will connect to the Atlanta BeltLine’s Westside Trail northern extension, the Westside BeltLine Connector, and Proctor Creek Greenway in the future. It is surrounded by the neighborhoods of West Highlands, Knight Park, Howell Station, Bankhead, Grove Park, Rockdale, Hills Park, and Blandtown.
Construction is ongoing on the first phase of Westside Park in two capacities: the water reservoir and the park itself. A massive tunnel-boring machine, called Driller Mike after Atlanta musician Killer Mike, completed the work of drilling 5 miles of tunnels between the quarry, the Chattahoochee River, and the Hemphill Water Treatment Plant. The former quarry began filling with water on April 17, 2020, and was filled by that summer.
Above ground, work is nearing completion on phase one of the park greenspace, which is expected to open in late spring or early summer 2021.
The City of Atlanta purchased the Bellwood Quarry in April 2006. In August 2019, Mayor Bottoms announced a $17.5 million grant from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation to support Westside Park.
