Briarcliff Road safe? (Atlanta, Druid Hills, Moreland: apartment complexes, rental, townhome)

[movinginatl]

Interested to see if anyone out there knows if the area around Briarcliff Road travelling North from Ponce De Leon towards Emory is safe. We are looking at a home in that area, but are not up to date on safety concerns for this part of town. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

[spacelord75]

It's pretty safe, but you will have stragglers from Ponce. Just like anyplace that is "in-town" you will have to accept the fact that randoms will roam around and be slightly more vigilant and smart about your surroundings if you go out at night. I used to live in a townhome development in that area and routinely went running after dark/before sunrise and never had problems outside of the occasional weirdo homeless person walking up from Ponce, but usually they seemed to stay down on Ponce. If you could live back in in a neighborhood and not necessarily up on Briarcliff itself, you would probably be better off. The people who actually own or rent in the area will pose no issue, it's just any riffraff that travels there by foot from some of the crappy areas off Ponce and North Ave.

[goozer]

If you will be living right on Briarcliff, the big issue is that it is a major road. The biggest peril to living there would likely be a car accident from someone speeding or driving recklessly. Briarcliff (as you head north from Ponce) is essentially a road that runs between two very nice intown nieghborhoods, Virginia-Highlands and Druid Hills. There are some fairly nice houses right on the road, as well as the Callonwolde Arts Center. There are also several rental apartment complexes, some nicer than others, and a couple that are not so nice at all (one of which I think is being razed). Bottom line is that the area is safer than a lot of intown "developing" areas, as it is sandwiched between two wealthy and "established" intown neighborhoods.

[rackensack]

Lived in (as a renter) several places in the general vicinity for ten years or so after moving to Atlanta (1986-1995), and I would have no more concern there than in any affluent area inside the perimeter. As others have said, there are lots of nice, expensive places to live nearby, and only a few marginal apartments right along Briarcliff, with a few more along Rock Springs just west of Briarcliff. Even the "stragglers" from Ponce, should there be any, are highly unlikely to do anything worse than panhandle or look weird, and Briarcliff is just to the east of where most of them will be -- Highland is about as far as they have any reason to go. I've lived on Ponce itself, on Highland, on Rock Springs, and even on Springdale Rd in Druid Hills, walked all over the area at all hours of the day and night, and never had anyone cause me any problem more severe than asking me for change.

It's a beautiful area, is extremely convenient to Virginia-Highland, Emory, Midtown, etc. Would love to live there myself if I could afford it.

[derekgreer17]

Best area to live in Atlanta.

[greg_atlanta]

The southbound traffic on Briarcliff at the Ponce intersection is bad, and that intersection is one of the most accident prone intersections in Atlanta. There is no left turn lane/signal southbound (and left turn is allowed at all times) so only the right lane is functional. Prepare to site through 2-3 light cycles to get onto ponce or Moreland southbound during peak traffic times.

Other than the dumpy apartments on that stretch (some of which are being torn down) it's a great location. Anything in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood is way trendy and is likely to appreciate significantly if it's renovated.

[Mongooz]

you will deal with some traffic issues and like mentioned, drivers go fast around the curvy streets. Its very safe, beautiful and awsome schools. Wonderful area.

[Cubancoffee]

We lived just off Briarcliff on Virginia Ave for two years. Great, great area. Traffic can be an issue. Hint: In rush-hour traffic, if you're heading south on Briarcliff at the Ponce intersection and want to keep going straight (as Briarcliff turns into Moreland), STAY IN THE LEFT LANE. Even though it gets backed up from people waiting to make a left turn, so many other drivers crowd into the right lane that it gets backed up for 3 blocks (or more) and the left lane clears out sooner, even with the wait for cars turning left. This doesn't work EVERY time, but I had to negotiate that intersection five times a week at rush hour and found it to be generally true.

[goozer]

I agree. That intersection at Ponce and Briarcliff is terrible during rush hour. If the city could find a way to widen the road so that people traveling south on Briarcliff had a dedicated left hand turn lane at Ponce, traffic would flow so much better.

[atlantamoi]

Another vote for decent place to live.