Can anything be done to beautify Dekalb Ave.? (Atlanta, Buford: real estate, condos)

[ATLTJL]

Everybody knows and talks about how ugly Buford Highway is. And it is. Even though nothing seems to get done about it, except in Chamblee where they did some decent work, there are always plans and ideas for how to improve it.

But what about Dekalb Avenue? Man, what a freaking eyesore that road is! Nobody seems to mention it, I guess because it goes through parts of town people like....but between the elevated train tracks that parallel it, to the street level tracks beyond those, to the crumbling buildings along it....Dekalb Ave. is about as ugly as a road comes.

Do they ever talk about beautification plans for it? Would it even be possible?

[ElleKaye]

Is this the area you're talking about ATLTJL?

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=dekal...ed=0CCkQ8gEwAA

[ATLTJL]

Yes!!!!

[magnetar]

A small landscaped boulevard would help, going down to two traffic lanes and a bike track on one side. But it could also just benefit from small things like crosswalks at intersections.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by ElleKaye

Is this the area you're talking about ATLTJL?

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=dekal...ed=0CCkQ8gEwAA

Those are actually surprisingly cool condos, if you ever been around to the other side of them.

[HH82]

I think before they beautify it, they ought to redesign the road and get rid of that stupid reversible lane. People don't pay attention to the signals above that lane if they don't see anybody driving in it, especially near Moreland where it goes from three lanes to four and back to three again. It's lucky somebody isn't killed on that road every day of the week.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Can anything be done to beautify Dekalb Ave.?

Everybody knows and talks about how ugly Buford Highway is. And it is. Even though nothing seems to get done about it, except in Chamblee where they did some decent work, there are always plans and ideas for how to improve it.

But what about Dekalb Avenue? Man, what a freaking eyesore that road is! Nobody seems to mention it, I guess because it goes through parts of town people like....but between the elevated train tracks that parallel it, to the street level tracks beyond those, to the crumbling buildings along it....Dekalb Ave. is about as ugly as a road comes.

Do they ever talk about beautification plans for it? Would it even be possible?

As far as I am aware, there are no official plans to beautify DeKalb Avenue at the moment.

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Would it even be possible?

Beautifying DeKalb Avenue would be possible, it is just that it would take A LOT of money to do so properly.

The best thing that can be done to beautify DeKalb Avenue is to completely bury the adjacent rail lines (both the freight rail and MARTA passenger rail transit lines) and redevelop the surface land area into a corridor of high-density mixed-use transit-oriented development anchored by a greenway and/or a tree-lined boulevard.

This large-scale infrastructure project to beautify DeKalb Avenue by burying the adjacent rail lines could also include the closure and removal of the multimodal rail-truck terminal at Hulsey Yard and a redevelopment of the land into a large high-density mixed-use transit-oriented development.

The revenues from the new high-density transit-oriented real estate development along the new greenway and around transit stations would pay for the burial of the current above-ground and elevated rail lines and the conversion of the corridor into a greenway-anchored high-density mixed-use transit-oriented corridor.

[Ant131531]

Why would they spend money burying the rail lines when they can spend that money actually building new lines or expanding the coverage? Even in NYC, outside of Manhattan, the tracks are elevated.

[WanderingImport]

3 words. Public/private partnership.

[bryantm3]

i thought about this yesterday, and the answer is in the name "dekalb avenue".

let me explain. what's the difference between a street, a road, an avenue, a boulevard, a parkway? these used to have specific meanings, but since the car era, these terms have all become muddled together so that they don't have any real meaning anymore.

let's look at the traditional definition of an avenue:

""Avenues" were a type of grand street the way a ballroom is a type of grand room. Although the meaning has become diluted over time, Avenues were once special types of streets to a city, these would have extra width (wider allowance), and would attract a lot of on street activity."

but let's be quite honest here; dekalb avenue is a major east-west traffic corridor, and the south side is a railroad track. it doesn't have a lot of potential for being a major foot traffic corridor.

so i've got an idea. narrow the street to two lanes, and use the third lane on the north side to create a pedestrian pathway that abuts the buildings on the north side of the road. put a shade tree median between the pathway and the road.

the thing is, this is entirely in line with the beltline plan. the beltline needs to run along dekalb avenue between airline street and the krog street tunnel (if not further). this would just be a great way to incorporate the beltline with dekalb avenue.

i created this image to show you what i'm talking about. the green dots are shade trees: