Milton's newest walking path went in this month along Highway 9, between Bethany Bend and Crooked Creek, in a strip of state right-of-way where people had already worn the weeds down by walking through them. That same week, the city signed papers to permanently protect the natural look and feel of its largest wooded trail park.
Taken together, those two October events explain where Milton's trail work is headed. The woods are being protected in their natural state. The new mileage is going in along the roads, to connect neighborhoods, schools and the Big Creek Greenway so people can walk between them. Below is how that looks on the ground as of October 11, 2026, and which parts you can use right now.
Birmingham Park keeps its natural character, permanently
Birmingham Park, at 750 Hickory Flat Road, is the anchor of the northern half of the city. The City describes it as having nine natural-surface multiuse trails used by hikers and equestrians, and its trail map shows a separate parking area for horse trailers. The color-coded routes on the City's Birmingham Park trail map run from very short connectors to loops over a mile long:
| Route on the City map | Labeled length |
|---|---|
| Blue | 1.41 miles |
| Yellow | 1.1 miles |
| Green | 0.65 miles |
| Purple | 0.53 miles |
| Meadow Loop | 0.41 miles |
| Red | 0.39 miles |
| White | 0.36 miles |
| Pink | 0.35 miles |
| Orange | 0.15 miles |
| Red-Yellow | 0.04 miles |
The City's description names hikers and equestrians. It doesn't say whether bikes are allowed, so check the kiosk at the trailhead before bringing one.
On October 8, Mayor Peyton Jamison and Community Development and Public Works Director Sara Leaders signed a conservation easement covering 185 acres of the park. The Georgia-Alabama Land Trust will hold, monitor and steward it. According to the City's account of the signing, it's now the largest easement the trust stewards in Fulton County, more than twice the size of the next largest. The Mayor described it as a way to "preserve what makes Milton special."
Day to day, little changes at the trailhead. The City has said residents should notice no direct change. Milton still owns the park and keeps the right to maintain existing trails, build new ones, and add things like signage, benches and restrooms, as long as they fit the agreement's goal of keeping the park's natural look and feel permanently.
Some of those additions are already planned. In April 2026, the City announced that Milton had been selected for a state Department of Natural Resources grant to fund a restroom, ADA-compliant trailhead parking, a replacement for a wooden bridge, new trail signs, and reroutes of two sections of the Yellow Trail. The money was expected by the end of the year, and no construction schedule has been published. For now, the Yellow Trail you walk this fall is the one shown on the current map.
The new mileage is going in along the roads
Most of Milton's other trail work this fall is along road corridors.
Highway 9, Bethany Bend to Crooked Creek. The new path is 5 feet wide and gravel, and crews finished it in early October. The City calls it a placeholder, since a permanent sidewalk could come later as part of Milton's Highway 9 project. The City also says that "wouldn't happen for years." For anyone walking between those two neighborhoods, it replaces a worn strip of grass with an actual path today.
Cogburn and Webb roads. This is the biggest project of the season. It's a 10-foot-wide concrete multiuse path about 1.7 miles long. It runs from Bethany Bend and Cogburn south on Cogburn Road, then east on Webb Road to the Webb Road–Morris Road roundabout. In January 2026, Milton approved a construction agreement with Wilson Construction covering the path, drainage, landscaping and water-main work. The City's ClearGov project page shows the Notice to Proceed issued June 4, 2026.
Crews started work on Cogburn in September, near King's Ridge Christian School and St. Francis High School. The City's stated goal is for residents to reach the Big Creek Greenway "safely on foot, pushing strollers, or on bicycles without needing to hop in a car." The Greenway itself runs between Roswell and Forsyth County. No completion date has been published for the connector, and the City's latest update doesn't say whether work has started on the Webb Road section.
Morris Road. A separate project is building a 10-foot multiuse path and a 5-foot sidewalk from the Webb/Deerfield roundabout to McGinnis Ferry Road. In the City's July 1 update, both were about 80% complete, with completion forecast for September. September has passed with no completion announcement. Until the City confirms it, the Morris Road path should be treated as nearly finished, not open.
The eastern end of the whole chain is meant to tie into the GDOT trail connection at the McGinnis Ferry Road and GA 400 interchange. Once Cogburn, Webb and Morris are all done, there would be one continuous paved route from the Bethany Bend area to the Greenway. That's the reason so much of this year's construction is running along the shoulders of roads.
Milton City Park and Preserve: new trail on one side, construction on the other
Milton City Park and Preserve, at 1785 Dinsmore Road, has both kinds of work going on. Its north-side passive area gained 1.5 miles of trail, boardwalks and a pier. Appen Media reported a ribbon-cutting for it on February 25.
The seven-acre active portion is a different story. The City said in July that work would start in August on a new playground, better lighting, parking upgrades and six tennis courts. No completion target has been published, and the City hasn't posted a current notice saying which facilities are affected during construction. If you're heading there for something specific, check the City's facility listing first.
The park's trail surface is also still being worked out. This summer, the City was testing crushed slate on a 100-foot section of trail while gathering public input on how to handle surface problems. No result or decision has been announced. Watch that test section if you walk the trail regularly, because what's tried there could end up on the rest of it.
How much the long-range plans actually promise
It's tempting to read every map Milton publishes as a list of trails on the way. The City says otherwise. When Council took up a revised Trail Blueprint map in November 2025, the City noted that being on the map doesn't guarantee when or how a trail will be built. The Greenprint, the City's long-term plan for its greenspaces, comes with the same caveat. It's guidance for seven existing greenspaces, not a funded project list, and each change it suggests still needs its own feasibility study, budget and public process.
This matches the pattern above. The Greenprint is about managing the greenspace Milton already owns, and Birmingham Park's easement already settles the biggest question there. The projects actually moving this fall, Cogburn, Webb, Morris and Highway 9, are the ones with contracts, crews and right-of-way.
Dates for the rest of the fall
- October 18, 2–4 p.m.: Rivers Alive at Providence Park. Volunteers clear debris from the lake shoreline and stream buffers.
- October 20, 5–7 p.m.: First Greenprint public open house, in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 2006 Heritage Walk.
- October 23: Planned reopening of the Freemanville Road bridge over Cooper Sandy Creek. According to GDOT's closure listing, it has been fully closed since May 26.
- October 27, 1–3 p.m.: Second Greenprint open house, also in Council Chambers.
- November 16: Target date for presenting the Greenprint to City Council.
- December 7: Target date for Council to adopt the Greenprint.
The two open houses are the easiest time to see the draft maps in person and ask staff what they mean for the parks closest to you.
If you're trying to work out how far a home is from Birmingham Park's trailheads, or which streets will connect to the Cogburn and Webb path once it's finished, Angel Kennedy is glad to go over the map with you. Let's Connect.
