As chronicled on these pages time and again, there’s a residential explosion afoot along Boulevard, south of Zoo Atlanta. Be it BeltLine-fronting apartments in Grant Park, townhomes in Benteen, or what’s practically a new small town under construction in Chosewood Park, all signs point to a population influx on the horizon.

A means of more safely getting those people between points of interest without the use of vehicles is coming into clearer focus, following several years of planning.

According to the Grant Park Neighborhood Association, the Atlanta Department of Transportation and district city councilmember Jason Winston are hosting a South Boulevard Complete Streets info meeting for the general public at 6 p.m. this evening at the Georgia Hill Neighborhood Center (250 Georgia Ave.).

Project officials will be providing updates and soliciting input for a safe streets project of significant scale—stretching from just south of Oakland Cemetery on the north end (Woodward Avenue) to McDonough Boulevard at the south terminus, at the doorstep of Atlanta’s federal prison—that could be open for use in about two years, should projections prove accurate.

Full scope of South Boulevard's planned safe streets overhaul from north of Interstate 20 to McDonough Boulevard. Atlanta Department of Transportation

Plans call for the Complete Streets initiative to stretch for more than two miles through Grant Park, Boulevard Heights, Chosewood Park, and Benteen, providing a safer connection to the Atlanta BeltLine by way of protected bike lanes and better pedestrian infrastructure. (Alongside Moreland Avenue, Boulevard is one of the straightest major road corridors in Atlanta, FWIW.)

Other points of interest along the route include Zoo Atlanta, Grant Park, Boulevard Crossing Park, Red’s Beer Garden, and El Progresso #14 (aka, Prison Tacos).

The full South Boulevard project remains in the preconstruction phase now, with procurement and construction to follow.

Tentative plans for Complete Streets implementation where Boulevard meets the BeltLine's Southside Trail. City of Atlanta; 2021

According to ATLDOT estimations, the project’s design phase is tentatively scheduled to conclude in August next year.

Construction will start in January 2025 and finish in December that year, per ATLDOT.

On a related note, the paved BeltLine is on pace to finally reach Boulevard in the spring of 2025, stretching via Southside Trail segments 4 and 5 from Boulevard up to Glenwood Park.

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