Georgia

Atlanta Region Developing More Walkable Urban Places

The Atlanta metropolitan area is bucking the trends established by its recent history of sprawling development by building a majority of its new developments as walkable urban places.

June 26, 2015 - ATL Urbanist

Metro Atlanta Developing 52 Miles of Express Lanes

The Georgia Express Lanes project will add managed traffic lanes to routes along I-85 and two separate stretches along I-75.

June 18, 2015 - SaportaReport

$60.2 Million Complete Streets Makeover Planned for MLK Drive in Atlanta

Invest Atlanta has announced a plan to finance a complete streets project for a 7.2-mile stretch of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

June 9, 2015 - SaportaReport

Proposed Atlanta BeltLine Budget Jumps 27 Percent

The improving economy will allow planners and city officials to expand work on the Atlanta BeltLine.

May 26, 2015 - SaportaReport

Chattanooga Mayor: No Chance for High-Speed Rail to Atlanta

A proposed plan to connect Chattanooga and Atlanta via high-speed rail, 17 years in the making, appears to be dead in the water. Chattanooga will now turn its attentions to a possible light rail system.

May 26, 2015 - Chattanooga Times Free Press

Grant Funding Rewards Innovation in Community Engagement

The Citi Foundation and Living Cities announced $3 million in grant funding to help cities adopt innovative practices in community engagement. Albuquerque, Atlanta, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Seattle will have 18 months to empower citizens.

May 22, 2015 - Next City

Clara Meer

Atlanta Beltline Symbolizes Efforts to Reverse Tide of Sprawl

Famously far-flung Atlanta is finding a comforting psychic barrier in the BeltLine, a 45-mile greenbelt in the place of former railroad tracks. The city and developers are trying to make the urban core more functional and attractive.

May 10, 2015 - The Architect's Newspaper

Atlanta's Big Mistake: Rushing Movie Studio Deal for Fort McPherson

Checking in on the status of negotiations for the redevelopment of Fort McPherson's 488 acres of rolling hills, historic buildings, and a lake, among much more, the Saporta Report argues that Atlanta has been far too accommodating.

May 5, 2015 - Saporta Report

MARTA Launches Planning Effort for Northern Extension of the Red Line

A plan in the earliest possible stages of outreach and environmental review would extend the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority's existing Red Line north of Atlanta farther into Fulton County.

April 15, 2015 - ATL Urbanist

Georgia to Increase Gas Tax Through Conversion to Excise Tax

Gov. Nathan Deal will sign legislation to increase gas taxes through a state sales tax conversion to an excise tax. With new weight-based truck fees, motel fees, and electric vehicle fees, it will add $1 billion in new transportation funding.

April 3, 2015 - WJBF Augusta

Peachtree Plaza

Atlanta's Favorite Architect Inspires Science Fiction

Even movies set long ago and far, far away have to be filmed somewhere. With uncanny frequency, many of them, including "The Hunger Games" and "Insurgent," have been filmed in the futuristic/dystopian landscape designed by John Portman in Atlanta.

April 2, 2015 - The Atlantic

Georgia Could End LEED Ratings for State Buildings

The LEED green building rating system doesn't acknowledge lumber from the state of Georgia as sustainable, so one state lawmaker suggests throwing out LEED altogether. Critics call it throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

March 25, 2015 - WABE

Surveying the Results of 150 Years of Persistent Growth in Atlanta

The American Institute of Architects will visit Atlanta this year, a month after the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. What should we know about the city as it exists today?

March 18, 2015 - Architect

Millennial Advisory Panel Convened for Atlanta's Regional Planning Effort

The Atlanta Regional Commission is engaging Millennials in an ongoing planning effort that will determine the shape of the region through 2040.

March 13, 2015 - Atlanta Regional Commission

Atlanta Announces Bikeshare Plans; Targets 2016 to Double Bike Commuters

The contract is signed, after years of planning, Bikeshare is coming to Atlanta as part of an ambitious goal to double the number of bike commuters in the city by 2016.

March 4, 2015 - Atlanta Creative Loafing

Expiring Leases Causing Headaches for EV Manufacturers

The Nissan Leaf, the world's best selling electric vehicle (EV), has a major depreciation problem: leasing contracts are so favorable that when the lease expires, dealers return many of them to the manufacturer because of low demand.

March 3, 2015 - The Wall Street Journal - Business

The Best and the Worst Airports to Access

If you want great access to an airport, go overseas—that's the main finding of a study by Golden Gateway Alliance, a Manhattan-based airport advocacy organization. Tied for dead-last in terms of access is Denver and a certain New York airport.

February 17, 2015 - New York Post

Atlanta Voters to Decide on $250 Million Infrastructure Bond

States aren't the only ones looking for new ways to fund crumbling transportation infrastructure. Atlanta voters, for instance, will consider a $250 infrastructure bond proposal in the March election.

February 16, 2015 - Atlanta Creative Loafing

A bus next to the re-located light rail station at Denver's Union Station

Trains Are Always Better than Buses, Right?

Josh Barro provide examples galore of why the answer to that question isn't always yes—where costly rail investment has been to the detriment of existing transit. His column targets proposed projects, such as New York's LaGuardia Airport AirTrain.

February 11, 2015 - New York Times - The Upshot

Atlanta Skyline

How to Revive a Transit Agency

Under CEO Keith Parker, Atlanta's formerly desperate transit agency is picking up steam after suffering annual deficits of up to $33 million. The service area has expanded, the fleet is being modernized, and voters approved a new transit tax.

February 6, 2015 - CityLab

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