Following a couple years of delays, an urban linear park that’s expected to transform pedestrian and bicyclist mobility through one of Atlanta’s most well-known but congested commercial areas is officially under construction. 

Long barricades and construction crews near Lenox Square mall this month signal the three-phase Lenox Road Complete Safe Street is coming, starting with the Lenox Boardwalk shared-use trail section. 

Stretching for 1.25 miles between Lenox MARTA station and Piedmont Road (where a swooping, modern pedestrian bridge is planned), the project is aiming to remake a major traffic corridor, Lenox Road, into a people-friendly route for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other non-motorists. 

Buckhead Community Improvement District officials have been working on the Complete Street initiative for about eight years. It was expected to start in late 2023 and again in spring 2024 but was delayed.

Conceptual plans for the Lenox Boardwalk's initial phase, now under construction. Courtesy of Buckhead CID

To help the cause, the Georgia Department of Transportation has awarded the project $1.8 million in the form of a Surface Block Grant Award, which the Atlanta City Council readily accepted this week. 

That comes after the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program awarded $10 million to help construct the elevated pedestrian and bicycle bridge last year. 

Jim Durrett, head of Buckhead Coalition and Buckhead Community Improvement District, tells Urbanize Atlanta that $10 million federal grant is secure. 

Plans for the Lenox Road Complete Safe Street project's third phase. Courtesy of Buckhead CID

Location of the Buckhead Loop bridge project (top, in red) in relation to Lenox Square and its neighboring MARTA station (bottom, in yellow). Google Maps

Fox 5 Atlanta reports the people-friendly overhaul will cost $82 million overall, with construction on the initial phase near the mall scheduled to wrap up this year. Construction will pause during FIFA World Cup festivities in Atlanta next summer, the station reports.  

Durrett said both sections two and three will be under construction in 2027 and finished sometime in 2029. 

The landmark bridge is considered the third phase of the Lenox Road project. 

Plans call for it to span Lenox Road’s intersection with Ga. Highway 400, where the Buckhead Loop roadway is 10 lanes wide at one point. The design in such a highly trafficked vehicle corridor will enhance safety and mobility in the area while providing a direct link to the district’s future highway-capping park, officials have said. The bridge will span a total of .62 miles. 

The Buckhead Loop intersection in question today. Google Maps

Buckhead’s growing PATH400 greenway runs near the intersection, and plans call for the bridge to also link directly to that project.

BCID is partnering with both GDOT and City of Atlanta on the Lenox Road project, with MARTA also on board. 

[UPDATE: 1:07 p.m., Nov. 7: Buckhead Community Improvement District officials send word the rendering for phase two of the project is dated; it has been removed from this story. Below is a current photo of Lenox Boardwalk progress near the mall.] 

Lenox Boardwalk progress today. Courtesy of BCID

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