Peachtree Street has been the stage for many historically significant moments in the City of Atlanta. The street is almost synonymous with the city itself. It was once a trail of the Creek people, the site of Atlanta's first skyscraper, a thriving business district, and the scene of the historical and ongoing fight for equality for all Atlantans.
The city is set to see 1.2 million new residents over the next couple of decades. To prepare for this growth, the Department of City Planning is working to provide more urban plans to accommodate density, multimodal transportation choices, and public spaces Downtown, in keeping with the core values outlined in the Atlanta City Design.
The department will build the new public places with inclusivity, history, and beautiful designs in mind. As a shared space, the street will function for the next generation of mobility and public life. While the new design as a shared space will continue to allow cars, it will shift the focus to creating safe and ample space for people to walk, bike, ride transit, gather, rest, and enjoy Downtown Atlanta.
The idea of turning Peachtree into a shared space emerged three years ago in a 2018 concept report by Atlanta City Studio. This current project will be continuing that vision by engaging more of the community, analyzing traffic impacts and recommending solutions, conducting environmental and historical due diligence, diving deeper into the design details, and testing the concept through a demonstration project.
Sets of teams from the Department of City Planning and volunteers will also develop alternative designs that will be shared with the community for feedback before moving forward with a preferred alternative. The project's final result will be a detailed concept report that addresses the design, activation, and implementation of the Peachtree Shared Space, as well as related improvements, to support an effective transportation network Downtown.