Complete Streets initiatives might be the bane of some Atlanta drivers’ existences, but city officials this week are pointing to evidence the infrastructure measures can work as intended and save lives.  

Atlanta Department of Transportation leadership held a Thursday press conference to discuss new data showing the effectiveness of the three-mile Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Complete Street Project, nearly four years after its completion. 

The street overhaul—branching from the shadow of Mercedes-Benz Stadium westward into Vine City and Mozley Park, to Interstate 20—has kept pedestrians safer while cutting back on traffic congestion, per the city’s findings. 

According to John Saxton, ATLDOT mobility director, the roadway in question has seen zero fatal crashes since the Complete Street project fully debuted in June 2022. 

That’s compared to four fatal crashes in the first six months of 2018 (when construction started) alone.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Complete Street Project, shortly after opening. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Meanwhile, pedestrian crashes involving people on foot, bicycles, or mobility devices have plummeted by 56 percent, according to ATLDOT’s findings. 

Overall roadway crashes have dipped by 23 percent, while travel time for drivers is down by 8 percent during peak hours, per ATLDOT. 

Anecdotally, the street infrastructure is also showing evidence of better connecting neighborhoods to MARTA, local schools, and the Atlanta Beltline (the MLK Drive Complete Street crosses under the Westside Trail). 

The Complete Street’s implementation cost around $10 million and took roughly four years to finish.

The project added protected bike lanes, improved sidewalks and lighting, median buffers between westbound and eastbound lanes, and reduced traffic lanes from four to three with left-turn lanes to cut back on collisions. 

Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

Nearly a decade in the making, the work was part of a seven-mile MLK Drive overhaul that cost $30 million. When it opened, city officials called the project the first Complete Street to be funded with the $750 million bond and T-SPLOST funds approved by voters. Federal funding and Invest Atlanta and Westside Tax Allocation District funds were also used. 

ATLDOT officials said this week the successful MLK Drive corridor remake is serving as a template for forthcoming Complete Street efforts. 

Specifically, that’s a reference to a similar safe-streets initiative planned for Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard and Georgia Avenue, now scheduled to start construction this fall, as Atlanta News First reports. 

Extent of planned changes between Grant Park and West End, including on-street protected bike lanes where feasible, per ATLDOT. Atlanta Department of Transportation/RD Abernathy Boulevard Complete Street

According to ATLDOT, that east-west project will stretch from the western edge of the Grant Park greenspace, through Summerhill, Mechanicsville, and other neighborhoods, before ending at the doorstep of MARTA’s West End station.  

Two-phase plans call for on-street protected bike lanes, traffic lane narrowing, ADA upgrades, lane delineators, and safer crosswalks, among other changes.  

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