Buckhead projects improving walkability, circulation declared finished

A Complete Streets overhaul in Buckhead that includes first-of-its-kind infrastructure for Atlanta (with more on the way) is making progress on several fronts, according to project officials. 

Buckhead Community Improvement District leaders report that two initiatives meant to improve how Buckhead visitors and residents navigate the district are now officially finished and open. 

That includes a multifaceted project where Wieuca Road meets Phipps Boulevard that qualifies as Atlanta’s first multi-lane roundabout, per Buckhead CID. 

The intersection—considered one of Buckhead’s busiest—now includes bike lanes, placemaking signage, crosswalks, and an 85-foot landscaped island that replaced an asphalt expanse the size of a small parking lot, according to project heads. 

Funding for the $4-million roundabout came from City of Atlanta and Buckhead CID coffers. 

Elsewhere, all facets of the $15.6-million Lenox Boardwalk project beside its namesake mall are also now in the books, per Buckhead CID.  

The .44-mile boardwalk—the initial phase of the Lenox Road Complete Safe Street project—runs along Lenox Road from MARTA’s Lenox station at East Paces Ferry Road to Peachtree Road. Features include an elevated 10 to 12-foot-wide pathway, enhanced pedestrian lighting and updated traffic signal mast arms, and the (partially) tree-shaded boardwalk. 

The boardwalk sets the “design standard for the two sections still to come,” per Buckhead CID’s description, while creating a “safer, more direct connection between the Lenox MARTA station, Lenox Square, and the surrounding retail, hospitality and business community.”

Meanwhile, the second, roughly $10-million phase of the Lenox Road Complete Safe Street project has entered final engineering stages, per Buckhead CID. 

Next steps call for right-of-way acquisition and permitting, with groundbreaking now anticipated at some point next year. 

Phase two is set to include wider sidewalks, upgraded ramps and staircases, traffic flow and streetscape upgrades, and additional lighting between Peachtree Road and Phipps Boulevard, to include the entrance to Alliance Center. Buckhead CID defines that part of the district as “a stretch that anchors some of Buckhead’s top shopping and dining destinations.”

Last but not least, a landmark bridge is considered the third phase of the Lenox Road project. 

Plans call for it to span .62 miles at Lenox Road’s intersection with Ga. Highway 400, where the Buckhead Loop roadway is 10 lanes wide at one point, while connecting with Buckhead's growing PATH400 greenway and the district’s future highway-capping park, officials have said. 

According to the recent project update, the “transformative” bridge is in active design phases and on pace for groundbreaking in 2028 (earlier projections called for construction to start in 2027), with a price tag of between $40 and $56 million, partially funded by a $10-million federal grant. 

It’s described as a “first-of-its-kind elevated pedestrian and bicycle bridge” that will close “one of Buckhead’s hardest gaps for anyone not in a car.”

Buckhead CID officials have been working on the Complete Street initiative for about nine years. It was expected to start in late 2023 and again in spring 2024, but construction was bumped back. 

Buckhead CID is partnering with both Georgia Department of Transportation and the City of Atlanta on the Lenox Road project, with MARTA also on board. Private company partners include Kimley-Horn engineering and design and architecture consulting firm Pond & Company. The overhaul project is expected to cost $82 million overall. 

Swing up to the gallery for more imagery and context.

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