Friday, October 12, 2012

At Georgia Tech: 5th Street Redefined

IMG_7932 IMG_7936 IMG_7935 IMG_7948 IMG_8004 IMG_7994 Why are east and west-bound traffic flows so restricted in Midtown Atlanta? The north and south rivers move in one-way arteries called Juniper, Piedmont, Spring and West Peachtree. Turn ninety degrees and your paths over the Downtown Connector become the two-way veins of 17th, 14th 10th and tiny 5th, which makes a constricting dogleg turn where it crosses mighty West Peachtree. Georgia Tech brings a significant volume of pedestrian traffic to the mix there and was a key player in the solution unveiled today, which included the efforts of City Hall, the Midtown Alliance and a grant from Bikes Belong. Now we have a "Copenhagen Left", beautifully illustrated by Joshuah Mello in this facebook album. Riders will have to adjust to turning left from the right lane, but do have a traffic signal for that purpose.
There is more to come. Both Mayor Kasim Reed and colorful, fixie-riding City Councilman Kwanza Hall affirmed their commitments to cycling infrastructure as a way of keeping Atlanta in the vanguard of American cities. Georgia Tech has risen to the occasion by developing an application for smartphones that will track urban cycle commuting so leaders and planners can see who rides when, where and why. Get yours from Cycle Atlanta.

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