Days are numbered for Atlanta’s most notorious boulevard of potholes and car crashes. For real this time, the city says.
Atlanta Department of Transportation officials announced today that resurfacing work on a long stretch of DeKalb Avenue is set to finally begin Monday.
Safe streets advocates and neighbors from Sweet Auburn to Lake Claire and beyond have been pushing—and literally petitioning, back in 2014—for a safer and repaired DeKalb Avenue, with its center “suicide lane” removed, for more than a decade. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ administration hosted a groundbreaking for DeKalb Avenue’s overhaul back in September 2021, but beyond upgrades to curbs, sidewalks, and some infrastructure, little visible change has happened since.
That all ends Monday, as necessary manhole adjustments (always a crucial first step) have been completed to allow for resurfacing, according to ATLDOT.
Milling, patching, and paving is scheduled to take place mainly between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m., from Sunday evenings to Friday mornings, to ease stress on commuters, per the city. Some weekend work and intermittent lane closures are expected.
Resurfacing work on Dekalb Avenue is scheduled to be finished this summer, barring weather delays, according to ATLDOT officials. Hallelujah.
The full scope of the Dekalb Avenue project plans, as detailed by the city three years ago.
City of Atlanta; Renew Atlanta/2020
Beyond resurfacing, the scope of the job includes intersection improvements, traffic signal coordination upgrades, and bike lane installation in places.
Safety improvements planned for the entirety of Dekalb Avenue are expected to be wrapped up by the end of 2023, according to ATLDOT. The work will span from Jackson Street in Sweet Auburn to the city limits at Ridgecrest Road near Decatur. That corridor, roughly four miles long, is dotted with six MARTA stations.
New lanes installed to allow for timed vehicle left turns at Krog Street.City of Atlanta; Renew Atlanta/2020
There’s hope on the horizon for Krog Street, too, per the transportation department.
The first phase of Krog Street stormwater drainage work is complete; the second phase will begin when railroad company CSX issues a permit that will allow work to start on Krog Street beneath the company’s tracks.
Recent statistics have spoken to the need for change on DeKalb Avenue.
Between 2015 and 2020 alone, nearly 1,000 vehicle crashes had occurred on the stretch of DeKalb between downtown and the city limits at East Lake MARTA Station. That stretch was used by up to 20,000 vehicles per day in 2019, per city estimates.
Drainage upgrades as overseen by the city’s Department of Watershed Management are also planned this year.
Following infrastructure work in 2020, the roadway's condition has been a tooth-jarring experience for drivers and cyclists.Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta
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