The City of Atlanta scored a $30-million grant that calls for transforming two streets, Pryor Street and Central Avenue, to act as safer connections between downtown and the BeltLine’s Southside Trail corridor. That makes it one of just two projects to receive the maximum grant amount available this round.
Atlanta will use these funds to widen sidewalks, add bike lanes and crosswalks, improve lighting at intersections and create more open space along both streets. The project also includes upgrades to public art along Central Avenue--one of which was recently unveiled as part of Art on the Atlanta BeltLine--and new public plazas at each end of Pryor Street where it intersects with Peachtree Road NE or Ralph McGill Boulevard NE.
The U.S. Transportation Department’s summation calls the project “a major expansion of the current system and bike network” that will boost safety and “promote mode shift from single-occupancy vehicles to more active transportation modes.”