From Midtown to Chosewood Park and a high-traffic stretch of Decatur, 2026 is shaping up to be a big year for people-friendly street overhauls around ITP Atlanta. That list includes Avondale Estates, too. 

Years in the making, the DeKalb County city’s North Avondale Road/East College Avenue Complete Street Project is 90 percent finished today, and it’s already attracting pedestrians and cyclists to sections of its open pathway, city officials tell Urbanize Atlanta. 

The Complete Street remake of U.S. Highway 278 (North Avondale Road/East College Avenue) officially broke ground in June 2024. It’s designed to turn Avondale’s main drag into a more attractive, efficient, accessible, and safer corridor for cyclists, pedestrians, and yes, drivers.

“It’s really exciting to see people using the multimodal path,” noted Avondale Estates spokesperson Ellen Powell via email today. 

Extent of the Complete Street project stretching from Sams Crossing, at left, to Ashton Place in Avondale Estates. Google Maps

According to Powell, the project schedule calls for completing all final punch list items by March 1. 

The last median is on pace to be installed by early February. Landscaping stands at 80 percent finished now, with final plantings along the corridor and in medians to finish by the end of next month. 

Meanwhile, upgrades at a key intersection—where Twin Oaks Plaza, South Avondale Road, North Avondale Road, and Pine Street all meet—are on pace to be finished this spring, per Powell. 

The project has remade a five-lane highway and formerly basic sidewalk that pass the Town Green and many of Avondale Estates’ most popular restaurants and shops, reducing the roadway to three lanes for roughly 1.15 miles.

The former roadway and narrow sidewalk in question, shown prior to construction. Courtesy of Avondale Estates

How a remade U.S. Highway 278 (North Avondale Road/East College Avenue) is expected to look and function through Avondale Estates' downtown area. Courtesy of Avondale Estates

At the western end, the Complete Street starts at Sams Crossing near MARTA's Avondale station; from there, it travels past the city park and through downtown, ending at Ashton Place.

Changes include a 10-foot-wide path for pedestrians and bicyclists, upgraded traffic signals, a center median, landscape buffer, and pedestrian and bike crossings, as well as road repaving and re-striping. 

As shown in June, completed aspects of the project include new pavers in Avondale’s Tudor Village that aim to reflect the distinctive architecture. Also shown is new seating in front of Galette bakery and a fresh Avon Theater marquee that returns the sign to its historic structure.Courtesy of Ellen Powell/Avondale Estates

The Complete Street project’s broader goal is to create a more walkable, bikeable, and cohesive downtown, in conjunction with the award-winning Town Green and its growing slate of retail and event spaces. 

For non-drivers especially, it should make for a more appealing (and safer) destination come warmer months. 

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