A Boardwalk, a Bridge, and a Big First Step: Springway Trail Opens in Sandy Springs

Sandy Springs has a new stretch of pavement, but for once, it’s not for traffic. The city officially cut the ribbon last Friday on the first completed segment of the Springway Trail—a 1.88-mile path connecting Roswell Road to Morgan Falls Overlook Park—and if you’ve been waiting for a reason to lace up your sneakers or dust off your bike, this might be it.

This isn’t just a sidewalk with ambition. The trail snakes its way along the Chattahoochee, threading through trees and rolling over a newly built boardwalk across Orkin Lake. It’s paved, multi-use, and, in parts, quite photogenic. There’s even signage, so you don’t accidentally end up in someone’s backyard while trying to “get back to nature.”

The ribbon-cutting brought out the usual suspects—Mayor Rusty Paul, city staff, council members, and the always well-prepared PATH Foundation. Paul called it “a special day” and encouraged everyone to walk the path together, “literally and figuratively.” (We’ll take the literal part first and see how the rest goes.)

This segment is the first real bite out of the 2019 Trail Master Plan, a long-term vision that sounds simple on paper—connect parks, neighborhoods, and commercial corridors—but has to tangle with all the realities of suburban development, land use, and Atlanta-area topography. Translation: building trails around here is no walk in the park, pun absolutely intended.

The completed stretch includes not just the trail itself but a surprisingly long list of supporting infrastructure: retaining walls, drainage systems, pedestrian bridges, landscaping—the kinds of things you don’t notice when they work and grumble about when they don’t. The boardwalk across Orkin Lake might end up being the visual highlight, though it’s likely to become more than just a photo op once temperatures start to climb and shaded spots near water turn into hot commodities.

If this first leg is any indication, the full Springway will be more than a feel-good amenity tacked onto a master plan. Of course, 1.88 miles isn’t a full transformation. This is the appetizer, and there’s a whole dinner menu still to come. But it’s a well-executed start, and it might just nudge a few folks out of their usual weekend routines. You could do worse than a morning walk to Morgan Falls, especially if the pollen count is forgiving and the local wildlife decides to make a cameo.

One segment down. A whole city to go. But for now, Sandy Springs has a new path forward—literally.