New Bikeways Coming to Atlanta This Year

The coming year promises a variety of new bike infrastructure in Atlanta, with new "world-class bike lanes, off-road paths, and mountain-biking trails" coming to the city. Thomas Wheatley reports on the upcoming projects for Atlanta Magazine.

The city's department of transportation "will start construction on 'Complete Street' overhauls—think wider sidewalks, roomy bike lanes, and narrower space for automobiles—on high-traffic and dangerous corridors like Cascade Road, Juniper Street, and Piedmont Avenue; safety improvements along DeKalb Avenue, one of the city’s notoriously pothole-ridden thoroughfares; and smaller projects." Commissioner of Transportation Josh Rowan "wants to study whether some city traffic lights—on busy bicycling routes or at hills—can be programmed to give priority to bicyclists," saying the department's goal is to create a "safe and seamless cycling experience in a hilly and hectic city."

The PATH Foundation is stepping up its regional projects, "including Covington, where PATH is helping extend the city’s Cricket Frog trail," the third phase of Newnan's LINC trail network, and the PATH 400 trail in Buckhead, among other projects. MTB Atlanta, the local chapter of the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association, is another organization working to increase bike facilities in the city. The group has raised funds to expand mountain biking trails in five local parks and, "in early 2021, the group won a grant to study building a 20-mile mountain-biking network in Chattahoochee Bend State Park."