HEALTH & FITNESS
Trail namesake joins CID, county
leaders in opening Bob Callan extension
FACTBOOK 2020 175
Staff reports
More than 12 years
after the trail was originally
named after him, Bob
Callan only recently began
walking the entirety of the
now-opened 1-mile extension
of it.
“I’ve walked the other
sections many times, and
it’s beautiful,” the 75-yearold
Callan said of the trail’s
previously opened 2 miles.
“And it’s right here in the
city, and the highways and
freeways are above you, and
you go, ‘Alright,’ but I feel
like I’m closer to nature out
here, and I expect this to be
exactly the same way.”
The retired Georgia division
administrator of the
Federal Highway Administration
had come from
Tallahassee, Florida, with
his wife Kathryn and adult
daughter Erin to take part
in the recent ribbon-cutting
and official opening
of the $9.1 million, 1-mile
extension. The new multiuse
pathway extends the
trail north ending short of
Windy Hill Road, following
along the Rottenwood
Creek.
The morning event was
put on by the Cumberland
Community Improvement
District, which was
joined by officials with the
Georgia Department of
Transportation, the Atlanta
Regional Commission and
Cobb County.
“With this addition, the
Bob Callan Trail spans 3
miles, giving those who
live, work and visit the
Cumberland area access to
a beautiful, beautiful natural
space for hiking, biking
and other recreational
opportunities,” said Kim
Menefee, the CID’s executive
director.
The 2-mile southern portion
of the Bob Callan Trail
was completed in 2007 at
a cost of $4 million — $1.3
million from the Cumberland
CID and the remainder
coming from the county
and the state, according
to CID documents.
During the ceremony,
Menefee presented Callan
with a framed watercolor of
the trail extension.
Callan, who said his
name was placed on the
original length of trail back
in June of 2007, said he was
“absolutely humbled” by
both recognition and the
initial naming honor.
“People would say, ‘Well,
how did it happen?’” Callan
said. “I said, ‘Well, I don’t
really know precisely. I
know some people that I
worked with … I think they
had something to do with
it, but precisely I tried to
do a good job and worked
with all these agencies —
GDOT, GRTA, ARC, the
CIDs — listened to them,
what they needed, and tried
to help them get there.”
Starting at the Bob Callan
Trailhead located at Interstate
North Parkway and
Cumberland Boulevard,
hikers and bikers will find
six new boardwalk sections,
a steel truss bridge spanning
a creek tributary, a viewing
overlook and resting areas
with benches at trail access
points. The trail itself is
paved with a sturdy porous
concrete designed to allow
rainfall to filter through to
the ground.
Another 1-mile addition
to the Bob Callan/
Rottenwood Creek Trail is
planned to extend further
northward to Terrell Mill
Road. A cost of the final
mile has yet to be determined,
Menefee previously
said.
Cobb Commission Chairman
Mike Boyce called the
trail extension the “new
jewel in the crown of Cobb
County and the Cumberland
CID.”
“The CID board has truly
been visionaries in the development
of this area, and
I believe that Sen. (Johnny)
Isakson, if he were here to
might say that the dream
that he helped create in
writing the legislation for
the CID has created something
better than he imagined,”
Boyce said. While he
was a Georgia state representative,
Isakson helped
draft a statewide constitutional
amendment to allow
CIDs in the Peach State. It
passed in 1984.
The opening of the trail,
Boyce said, adds to the
more than 60 miles of trails
in the county’s trail system,
which forms connections to
several trails that lead well
beyond Cobb.
“By the end of next year,
you’ll be able to ride from
Kennesaw all the way
down here, you’ll be able
to, eventually, up north to
Woodstock to Cherokee
County and then south
to the (Atlanta) Beltline,”
Boyce said before quipping,
to laughter, “I’ve even
heard you can ride it as
far away as some mystical
place called ‘Alabama.’”