Restoring Atlanta's Street Grid (Savannah, Sandy Springs: fit in, moving, train)

[Sandy Springs Rep.]

I found this old map of Atlanta on Wikipedia and was amazed when I compared it the current map at how many streets were there that aren't there today.

Pull up Atlanta on Google Maps and then open this map and you'll see what I mean. So much of Atlanta's street grid has been torn up over the years, a lot of it from building the interstates, but a lot of it for other various reasons.

Obviously, some of it was necessary, like Turner Field and the Georgia Aquarium (both of which were too big to fit into the existing street grid), but I think we should try to restore as much of the original street grid as we can, ASAP, before it becomes impossible because of new development in the former path of these streets.

Maybe we can follow Boston's lead and just put the interstates underground. (the Downtown Connector, at least... )

Thoughts?

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by Sandy Springs Rep.

I found this old map of Atlanta on Wikipedia and was amazed when I compared it the current map at how many streets were there that aren't there today.

Pull up Atlanta on Google Maps and then open this map and you'll see what I mean. So much of Atlanta's street grid has been torn up over the years, a lot of it from building the interstates, but a lot of it for other various reasons.

Obviously, some of it was necessary, like Turner Field and the Georgia Aquarium (both of which were too big to fit into the existing street grid), but I think we should try to restore as much of the original street grid as we can, ASAP, before it becomes impossible because of new development in the former path of these streets.

Maybe we can follow Boston's lead and just put the interstates underground. (the Downtown Connector, at least... )

Thoughts?

There was some talk a while ago about covering the connector and creating a park above it, or even eliminating it! It came out of a proposal by some Tech grad students.

Disconnecting the Connector - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

[waronxmas]

The thing is that the grid still exists, with some exceptions. Of course there are the blocks that were bulldozed for the highway. In other cases some blocks were joined together to form super blocks.

It's a myth that Atlanta doesn't have a street grid. In fact, almost the entire city was built around one except for Buckhead, Lindbergh, Druid Hills and the far westside. The problem is that it was independently developed and not much thought was ever put in to putting it all together.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

There was some talk a while ago about covering the connector and creating a park above it, or even eliminating it! It came out of a proposal by some Tech grad students.

Disconnecting the Connector - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

I get what they want to do, but I think a far more viable solution would be to create a viaduct like downtown has over the train tracks over the Connector then create a series of traffic stops. Then reintegrate that area with the rest of Downtown. It worked once before in this town, don't see why it couldn't again.

Especially if you have ever observed GA400 between 285 and 85 during rush hour. There is almost never any traffic on that stretch until you get within about a mile of the other highways. That little tollbooth is the whole reason.

[Sandy Springs Rep.]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

The thing is that the grid still exists, with some exceptions. Of course there are the blocks that were bulldozed for the highway. In other cases some blocks were joined together to form super blocks.

It's a myth that Atlanta doesn't have a street grid. In fact, almost the entire city was built around one except for Buckhead, Lindbergh, Druid Hills and the far westside. The problem is that it was independently developed and not much thought was ever put in to putting it all together.

Oh yeah, Atlanta still has a street grid, no doubt. It's just not as extensive and complete as it used to be.

Look at that JPG, you'll see exactly what I'm talking about!

[reet4587]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

There was some talk a while ago about covering the connector and creating a park above it, or even eliminating it! It came out of a proposal by some Tech grad students.

Disconnecting the Connector - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

Thanks for posting the link -- I'd never seen that before. I doubt we'd ever be able to get rid of the connector, but if we did I think it would have a positive, cohesive impact on the city and make moving around within it (particularly east-west movement) a more pleasant experience.

Coincidentally my wife asked me just recently if Atlanta's chances at becoming a truly walkable city without so much car-dependency were blown by the building of the connector. I hope not. There are cities that have a wide river running through the middle with bridges over the top. The connector is our ugly, fume-spouting river.

I think the best we can do is to spruce up the major bridges over it so that they look like the 5th Street one. I think that was a great idea and I've really enjoyed that park-like space.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by Sandy Springs Rep.

Oh yeah, Atlanta still has a street grid, no doubt. It's just not as extensive and complete as it used to be.

Look at that JPG, you'll see exactly what I'm talking about!

Quite right, I wasn't trying to suggest that you didn't exactly

[atlantagreg30127]

Keep in mind that technically, it's not "a" grid (such as in NYC) - it's a series of several separate grids that just butt-up to one another.

Also note, that when Georgia was a new State, it was Savannah that was officially planned to be the "big city" of the State by leaders... not Atlanta. Atlanta, or "Terminus" as it was called (also called "Marthasville" briefly) was simply a big railroad hub and landlocked shipping distribution area - and was in no way planned or laid out to become a real city.

After a time (late 1800s or so), it became apparent that Atlanta was indeed to become a decent-sized city, but I think even then, they were still expecting Savannah to be "the" city of Georgia, so Atlanta city leaders never took the initiative to organize things 100% right from the get-go. So as the city grew, the streets just sort of started going their own way. Too late to do much now, honestly.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

Keep in mind that technically, it's not "a" grid (such as in NYC) - it's a series of several separate grids that just butt-up to one another.

Also note, that when Georgia was a new State, it was Savannah that was officially planned to be the "big city" of the State by leaders... not Atlanta. Atlanta, or "Terminus" as it was called (also called "Marthasville" briefly) was simply a big railroad hub and landlocked shipping distribution area - and was in no way planned or laid out to become a real city.

After a time (late 1800s or so), it became apparent that Atlanta was indeed to become a decent-sized city, but I think even then, they were still expecting Savannah to be "the" city of Georgia, so Atlanta city leaders never took the initiative to organize things 100% right from the get-go. So as the city grew, the streets just sort of started going their own way. Too late to do much now, honestly.

Also, a lot of the streets leading out of Atlanta (ie Peachtree) were originally Indian footpaths.