If you’ve ever wondered about the best route for a run, a long walk or a bike ride around Decatur or Atlanta, you’d probably consider the routes where folks walk/run/bike the most.

But up until the advent of the smartphone, this was something difficult to visualize on a map for large swaths of the world.  But thanks to mapping software and smartphone apps like RunKeeper, we can begin to map the most trafficked (or at least exercised!) routes around Atlanta – and the world!

A company called Mapbox has taken the data from 1.5 million runs, walks and bike rides from RunKeeper and turned it into one giant interactive map that you can play with HERE.  The brighter the line, the most frequented the route.

As you can see above, main routes in Decatur aren’t entirely surprising.  The PATH trail, West Ponce and Oakview seem to be the main walk/run/bike corridors within the city.  But zoom in a little closer and you can see all kinds of interesting patterns.  For instance, the most popular route to take thru the Decatur Cemetery is along the western road.

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From Decatur’s Casie Yoder…

Construction at Trinity and E. Howard will begin in full on Monday, September 29.

Here is what travelers need to know:

· E. Howard will be closed for bike-ped-car traffic including the PATH trail for an 18-24 month period starting this weekend.
· In addition, there will be no sidewalk service on the south side of Trinity Street between Church Street and E. Howard Avenue. For this reason, there will be no mid-block crossing on Trinity.
Alternate routes will be posted on the street this weekend. Here is a snapshot of those alternate routes:

· The alternate PATH bike route will be on Church Street and E. Ponce de Leon Avenue.
· The alternate pedestrian routes for the E. Howard will be on Church Street and E. College Street.
For more information, please contact the City of Decatur, Design, Environment & Construction Division at 678.553.6570.

Decatur Commissioner Fred Boykin sends along this info that was included in the most recent Bicycle South newsletter…

Next Tuesday October 8^th at 10AM the DeKalb County Commission will consider a proposal to condemn approx 10’ (average) off the Church St edge of the CSX railroad right of way from Glendale to Erskine for the purpose of building a trail bridge over I-285 and a continuous multi-use trail along the route. If you’ve ever ridden the trail, you know this is the worst & most dangerous section between Decatur and Stone Mountain! PATH and the County have the funds, GDOT has approved the bridge, the permit is in place and the Clarkston City Council is in support and now is the opportunity to make this happen.

However, the DeKalb Commission has postponed this vote once before because the Commissioner for the district, Sharon Barnes-Sutton, has expressed some doubt about the need for a bridge. If you live in DeKalb and want a safe way to ride or walk this trail, then now is the time to contact her & the other Commissioners: Jeff Rader, Larry Johnson, Elaine Boyer, Stan Watson & Kathy Gannon. Click HERE (http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/boc/contact.html) for contact information. Please do it now! The vote is only a few days away.