ATLANTA — Atlanta transportation leaders are asking residents to help shape how people get around the city over the next 10 to 15 years.
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The Atlanta Department of Transportation held the first of 12 community meetings Tuesday as part of its Comprehensive Transportation Plan.
The interactive open house gave residents a chance to identify transportation problems and weigh in on how they want the city to spend money, from road maintenance and safety improvements to trails and bike lanes.
Atlanta City Councilman Byron Amos said the plan will look at transportation across the city.
“It’s about how we talk about small streets, how we talk about the major thoroughfares, sidewalks, bus stops, everything is included in this plan,” Amos said.
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Residents were able to provide feedback about specific concerns, including potholes, sidewalks, lighting and other safety issues.
Bankhead resident Keyana Lawson said she wants more information about how proposed projects would affect the broader community before deciding which ones deserve funding.
“There are some things on there that I would just not want to contribute pennies to until I get more information on how it’s going to positively impact the masses, not just a small segment of individuals,” Lawson said.
ATLDOT mobility planning director John Saxton said the input is especially important as Atlanta expects significant population growth.
“One of the challenges that we’re responding to with this plan is we know over the next 25 years. We’re going to have 200,000 more residents in the city, so how are all of those people going to get around? If all of those people are driving single occupancy vehicles by themselves, you think traffic is bad now, it’s going to be worse then, so we need to give people options for how they get around the city,” Saxton said.
Safety is also a major focus of the plan.
ATLDOT said 55 people were killed in traffic crashes in Atlanta last year. City transportation leaders said their goal is to get that number to zero.
“Safety is a big component, so thinking about other modes like scooting and walking and biking and getting to transit,” Saxton said.
The transportation plan will also involve coordination with other agencies and organizations, including MARTA, the Georgia Department of Transportation and the Atlanta Beltline.
That means larger transportation issues, including transit and future projects such as Beltline rail, can be part of the broader conversation.
The project planning phase is expected to wrap up by November 2027. After that, city leaders will begin discussing how to implement the plan and pay for the projects.
“The funding of the plan. We start looking at the city budget. We may have to look at another SPLOSH opportunity. We may have to look at federal grants and state grants,” Amos said.
The community meetings are scheduled through Thanksgiving.
The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday at St. James United Methodist Church on Peachtree Dunwoody Road.
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