I’ve never been swimming with sharks, but I would imagine it’s a lot like riding a bicycle on the streets of Atlanta. Traffic is dense and motorists are hostile. A naive cyclist can be like a bleeding fish.
While cities like New York, Vancouver, Seattle and Portland are well known for investing so much in alternative transportation, Atlanta, a city not well known for being bicycle-friendly, is quietly making huge improvements in infrastructure in hopes to calm the water and make the streets a little less dangerous for non-motorists.
One day last week I realized that the bicycle lane that leads me downtown had disappeared overnight. The lane had literally been scrapped off of the ground. After twittering my frustration I sent a couple of emails to friends at the Georgia DOT and Atlanta Bike Coalition. A couple of days later I was forwarded this email.
Greetings All—
The construction you all witnessed on Highland Avenue between Jackson Street and Central Park Place is: The Centennial Park Trail (GDOT #0008132) Development Project.
The Centennial Park Trail, when completed, will be a 10-12 feet wide concrete multi-use trail on the south side of Highland Ave & Baker-Highland Connector. The trail commences from Jackson Parkway and terminates at Piedmont Avenue. Including within the project is the modification of the Jackson-Highland intersection.
The project is scheduled completion date is December 2009.
The Centennial Park Trail is part of PATH, a non-profit foundation working with the city to build a linear park and trail, that will connect Stone Mountain to downtown Atlanta. A portion of the street will become a landscaped park, based on the idea of “roads to trails” that has proved successful in cities like New York. The Centennial Park Trail will reduce excessive lane widths to accommodate a widened sidewalk, bicycle lane, improve pedestrian access at intersections, and add street trees and lighting. Bicycling commuters will be able to travel to the center of the city without using the street.
Great news for Atlanta, especially following a drop from second to third worst city for traffic. We’re moving in the right direction. Though we’ll have to wait until Christmas for the new addition to Atlanta streets, I’ll happily, and cautiously swim with the sharks until then.
The trail isn’t open yet but we took our first spin yesterday.
Comment by Mick on July 29, 2009 at 1:29 pm