Monroe Drive is finally getting the makeover safety advocates have chased for ten years. On July 22, city officials broke ground on an $18.5 million Safe Streets project that will reshape the corridor from 8th Street to Piedmont Circle, according to SaportaReport.
The plan converts Monroe Drive from four travel lanes to three: one lane in each direction plus a center turn lane, a design meant to calm the speeding that has long plagued the road on the edge of Midtown and Virginia-Highland. District 6 Councilmember Alex Wan put the goal plainly at the groundbreaking: slow traffic down.
Monroe Drive sits on Atlanta's High Injury Network, the small share of roads that account for most of the city's serious crashes. The redesign grew out of years of community meetings and advocacy from groups like Atlanta Families for Safe Streets, who pushed for continuous bike lanes, better sidewalks, and crossings people can actually trust.
The work is expected to take about two years. When it wraps, one of intown's busiest cut-throughs should be a calmer place to drive, bike, and walk.
