Atlanta is moving forward with a major road redesign on Monroe Drive that city leaders say will improve safety, but some neighbors worry it could make traffic worse and create new problems for surrounding streets.
The Atlanta Department of Transportation (ATLDOT) broke ground Wednesday morning on the Monroe Drive Safe Streets Project.
The nearly $18.5 million project will convert Monroe Drive from four travel lanes to three — one lane in each direction with a center turn lane — between Armour Drive and 8th Street. The first phase of construction will focus on the stretch from Armour Drive to Park Drive and is expected to take about a year to complete.
ATLDOT said it conducted traffic studies examining current and projected traffic volumes along the corridor. The city says the new three-lane design is intended to slow vehicle speeds and reduce crashes by as much as 30%.
Not everyone is convinced the changes will improve traffic.
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Charlie Kaften, president of the Yorkshire Townhomes Homeowners Association, said he believes Monroe Drive is already too heavily traveled for a lane reduction.
“Monroe Drive, from all the statistics some of us have seen, it’s just about at that threshold where it’s no longer viable to reduce the lanes down,” Kaften said.
Kaften said many neighbors agree safety improvements are needed but believe there are less expensive alternatives.
“It’s not like people don’t think something needs to be done, but others of us have just said, just put traffic lights up and those crosswalks for pedestrians, and it should solve the problem, which would be a lot cheaper,” he said.
Residents also worry construction and the completed project could push drivers onto neighborhood streets to avoid congestion on Monroe Drive.
“The side streets are going to become cut-throughs because people want to get away from Monroe Drive because it’s in gridlock,” Kaften said.
Following the groundbreaking ceremony, Dist. 6 Councilmember Alex Wan said in a statement: “I know that there are skeptics out there. I want to remind them of the grandson and brother that came to City Hall last year after his grandmother was struck by a car at Amsterdam. I want to remind them about Alexia Hyneman, the then Grady High School student who was struck by a vehicle while on her bike and lost her life. Those are the reasons why we do this.”
Hyneman’s father, Thomas Hyneman, co-founded Atlanta Families for Safe Streets after his daughter died in 2016 when she was struck by a car at the intersection of Monroe and 10th Streets.
“We truly are sorry if these changes make some commutes longer or create additional congestion. That’s a real concern, and we don’t dismiss it. But Atlanta is a Vision Zero city because we believe safety has to come first,” Hyneman said. “Every transportation decision involves tradeoffs, and choosing convenience over safety means accepting that some crashes, serious injuries, and deaths are simply the cost of moving traffic faster. As a member of Atlanta Families for Safe Streets, I can’t accept that. One death is too many. We can improve traffic over time, but we can never bring back someone who didn’t make it home.”
Construction is expected to continue through July 2028, a timeline that concerns some neighbors because it could overlap with the controversial Amsterdam Walk redevelopment project.
The first phase of the project is expected to be completed in about a year, with the overall project scheduled for completion by July 2028.
Read more of this story at WSBTV.com.
