A plan to cap a stretch of the Downtown Connector in Midtown with a park is still moving forward but the size has been considerably scaled back.
According to a report at Urbanize Atlanta, the Midtown Connector project has shrunk from 25 acres to around 16. The cap park which once stretched from North Avenue to 10th Street would now end at 5th Street.
Midtown Connector Park Foundation chief strategy officer Taylor Morison told Urbanize that the project has been scaled back to lower costs, get the park underway sooner, and pave the way for other highway-capping parks proposed in the city.
The foundation also announced that it has appointed former Atlanta Regional Commission executive director Doug Hooker as its CEO.
New renderings of the Midtown Connector still show water features, walking paths, and a “grand pavilion” on the 5th Street end of the park.
The project recently received $3.2 million in federal money to begin the planning ane engineering process.
Atlanta has two other highway-capping projects in the works.
First is The Stitch, which would create approximately 14 acres of urban greenspace atop a new, 3⁄4-mile platform spanning the Downtown Connector between Ted Turner Drive and Piedmont Avenue.
And second is HUB404, a half-mile greenspace to cap Ga. 400 with access to the Buckhead MARTA Station and PATH400.
Dyana Bagby contributed to this report.