As residents of northwest Atlanta have likely noticed, the Complete Streets overhaul of a corridor described as the area’s “backbone” is barreling ahead. Just brace for growing pains—for quite a while.
Atlanta Department of Transportation officials relayed this week that resurfacing activities have started as part of the Howell Mill Road Complete Street project, which initially emerged as a Renew Atlanta bond initiative way back in 2015.
Median work is underway as well near the point where Howell Mill Road meets Interstate 75, toward the top end of the Complete Streets project’s scope.
The goal is to make one of Atlanta’s most rapidly developing corridors friendlier to non-motorists, safer for drivers, and more efficient overall. Neighborhood leaders described the upgrades as “critical” in the lead up to the project’s ceremonial groundbreaking in December.
Howell Mill Road resurfacing work happening near I-75 this week. Atlanta Department of Transportation
The general scope of the Howell Mill Road section in question, with traffic conditions at 2 p.m. on a Monday. Google Maps
According to the city’s most recent update, construction of the full project could take anywhere between 24 months and three years, with nearby residents and Howell Mill Road users experiencing “significant disruption” from here until then.
The target completion date is listed as winter 2026.
The Complete Streets redo calls for resurfacing Howell Mill Road from just north of Collier Road down to Marietta Street, a distance of about two and ½ miles. Along the route the city plans to synchronize traffic signals with fiber technology upgrades and build raised bike lanes from Forrest Street (about a block north of Atlanta Water Works) to all points south along Howell Mill.
Other upgrades will focus on sidewalk repairs, more mid-block crossings, ADA upgrades, and additional safety improvements such as bike lanes, officials have said.
The Atlanta City Council approved legislation in September to fund the full project. Construction partners P2K and Lefko Construction were picked in a joint venture as general contractors to build the street upgrades.
A median recently installed on Howell Mill Road near Interstate 75. Atlanta Department of Transportation
How a typical section of Howell Mill Road with a new median and raised bike lanes is expected to function. Atlanta Department of Transportation
Howell Mill’s Complete Streets overhaul was once expected to begin in 2017—adding bike lanes, upgraded sidewalks and bus stops, fresh pavement, and new turn lanes—but was later axed from Renew Atlanta’s $250 million project list. Until September, the project still hadn’t been fully funded.
It comes during an era of drastic, continuing changes throughout much of the corridor.
Since 2018, more than 1,100 apartments and townhomes have delivered in the Howell Mill blocks between 14th and 10th streets alone, with hundreds more in the pipeline. Star Metals Offices, a new office building, and the mixed-use district that is Interlock’s first phase have also come together in the same area. And just this week, north of Interstate 75, developers declared another 212 apartments finished at The Howell multifamily complex.
Despite the surge of private development, the three-lane roadway snaking through neighborhoods such as Home Park and Marietta Street Artery has been mostly unchanged in recent years, apart from a few new crosswalks.
Find more Howell Mill Road context and imagery in the above gallery. Or to really delve into the weeds with this project, head over here.
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