ATLANTA — Workers around the city are making last-minute adjustments as the World Cup comes to town.
Channel 2’s Michael Doudna was live on Peachtree for Channel 2 Action News at 6:00.
The city says they have repaved more than 90 miles of roads in the lead up to this event.
This includes some of the most vital roads in the city, like on Peachtree, which is now a new asphalt black.
But with the first game here in Georgia days away, projects from roadways to the Beltline are trying to finish before the first game in Atlanta kicks off.
The past few months have felt like a city under construction.
At the Beltline Wednesday night, some neighbors woke up to workers blasting dirt away ahead of a scheduled Friday ribbon cutting.
“So if we have to make a few sacrifices right now to get it open and available to us, I think that’s a very fine tradeoff,” Christian Keur said.
But it’s far from the only tradeoff.
In recent months, Georgia Department of Transportation resurfaced part of the downtown connector and installed new lights, while Atlanta’s Department of Transportation has repaved 95 miles of city streets
“We’ve gotten it all done. So you say it’s much done. Moratorium starts on Friday, and we are 98.9% complete,” said Solomon Caviness, Atlanta’s DOT commissioner.
The department says in the lead-up to the World Cup, they have completed 18 projects across the city.
“So we’ve committed to making sure that all this work gets done for the legacy and future,” Caviness said.
But some residents are frustrated, saying the improvements feel like they came all at once, all for a sporting event.
“You don’t do a crash diet and try to lose all the pounds right away. You do it a little, and you build healthy habits, right? I don’t think we have healthy habits here in this town,” Keur said.
But for Atlanta DOT, they say these improvements go well beyond the World Cup and will benefit residents for years to come.
“After FIFA, we’ll be out here with new pavement, beautiful corridors and a more accessible environment,” Caviness said.
Starting June 12, the city will have a moratorium on new construction projects during the World Cup.
As for GDOT, some of the major projects, like on 285 and the 400 express lanes, are not related to the World Cup, and some of the major projects will still have overnight lane closures.
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