By Matthew Gore, Projects and Programs Manager, Buckhead Community Improvement District
The Buckhead Community Improvement District (BCID) is elevating the community’s walkability and connectivity with a transformative project that will increase safety and create a crucial, continuous route through Buckhead for non-vehicle travelers. As a part of Phase III of the Lenox Road Complete Streets project, the CID is developing plans for a bicycle-pedestrian bridge that will allow pedestrians and cyclists to cross both Lenox Road and Georgia 400 without interacting with vehicular traffic.
Early concept renderings envision a gracefully curving, elevated bridge that provides a safe route across the busy Buckhead Loop-GA 400 interchange. Bridging this gap in Buckhead’s bicycle-pedestrian infrastructure will boost the walkability of the community as a whole by tying into PATH400, a 5.2-mile multi-use trail that runs alongside GA 400 and connects to many Buckhead neighborhoods and greenspaces. Furthermore, the new bridge will be designed as a gateway to HUB404 once the proposed highway-capping park is completed, dramatically improving connectivity along the entire corridor.
The BCID is drafting the concept report which is set to be completed in September. To allow the public to comment on the project, the BCID will host a virtual open house on Monday, September 19 at 6 p.m. to discuss the plans, purpose and benefits of Lenox Road Complete Street Phase III. Additional information about the project and the open house can be found at this website.
Following approval of the concept report by the Georgia Department of Transportation, engineering design work will begin later this year with the goal of beginning construction on the project in late 2024. Funding for the concept and design phases of the project is in place, and federal funding through the Atlanta Regional Commission is secured to go toward the construction phase of the project.
Aiming to connect residential areas to large commercial properties like Phipps Plaza and other office spaces, the project will increase both pedestrian and bicycle mobility along the corridor with improvements including high visibility crosswalks, decreased lane widths on Lenox Road, buffers between the road and walk area and 12-foot minimum, shared-use paths.
This is just the latest step in the Lenox Road Complete Street project. To make much needed improvements to Lenox Road, work on the streetscape’s earlier phases began last year to fill in gaps in the existing sidewalk network and create a much-needed, shared-use path along the Lenox Road corridor from Piedmont Road all the way to East Paces Ferry at MARTA’s Lenox Station.
For more than two decades, the Buckhead CID has continued to identify and improve road, biking and pedestrian safety while adding a level of connectivity never before seen in the commercial core of Buckhead. To learn more about current and upcoming projects like Lenox Road Complete Street or HUB404, visit the BCID’s website.
