First, the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign tried to work with the city to change the traffic calming project now going on along East Wesley Road in Buckhead. After all, cyclists claim, East Wesley is a city-designated bicycle route and the traffic calming project underway has resulted in removal of the bike lanes.
Next, the bicycle group filed an emergency petition with the Superior Court for an injunction to halt the project.
The result was that the city moved hastily forward to complete the project while it filed a lengthy response to the bicycle group’s petition.
Feeling the prognosis for a favorable outcome was dim, Dennis Hoffarth, executive director of the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign, called for a protest ride along East Wesley on Saturday, April 21, sporting signs reading “I’d rather be in a bike lane,” “bike lanes now,” and “stop East Wesley bad design.”
The group paused long enough at the project sign near Peachtree Road on East Wesley to attach an “Earth Day Award” to the City of Atlanta for a project they say is harmful to the environment.
–John Schaffner