Steady improvements may make Atlanta’s west side more connected, pedestrian-friendly

In July Rough Draft disclosed on the growing pains of small businesses on the west side of Atlanta This month we re talking to residents about how they interact with the neighborhood through shopping restaurants personal services and getting around by car foot and bike Westside Provision District on Howell Mill Road looking east into Midtown Photo by Logan C Ritchie Just west of the I- I- Connector lies a string of historic neighborhoods lumped together between old warehouses The Goat Farm Arts Center on Huff Road the Brickworks along the Marietta Street Artery and the Howell Interlocking Junction near Brady Avenue harken back to a time when Atlanta flourished because of the railroad This once industrial area known locally as the Westside has become a boomtown in up-to-date years But for residents and visitors those same railroad tracks crisscrossing the land often muck up easy access to the restaurants entertainment and daily necessities less than a mile away as the crow flies Resident Arthur Toal the director of Continuous Improvement at Georgia Tech Administrative Services Center commutes to work on an electric Onewheel The Georgia Tech graduate moved to the west side of Atlanta five years ago from Midtown because the Beltline was projected to be built near the Howell Station neighborhood Toal presently serves as the chair of the Neighborhood Planning Unit NPU-K that spans Howell Station Bankhead Moseley Park Hunter Hills and Washington Park Formerly a population of railroad workers Toal announced Howell Station is a more gentrified higher economic mobility neighborhood than the rest of the NPU Since moving to Howell Station Toal revealed the city finished construction on the Westside Beltline Connector giving specific area residents access to Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the Westside Trail Segment III A new spur trail also runs parallel to the Westside Beltline one city block between Marietta Boulevard and Joseph E Lowery Boulevard I ve been patronizing the restaurants and bars on the Westside since I got here As connectivity has expanded it s given me more access to them Toal stated Related Story Westside resident embraces walkability and social life in Howell Station The North Avenue bridge looking north over the Connector with Midtown to the right Westside to the left Photo by Logan C Ritchie Howell Mill Road traveling into the heart of the Westside commercial and restaurant district Photo by Logan C Ritchie With a portion of the Westside Trail built Toal wonders if nearby neighborhoods will see more commercial properties spring up He notes that it s a chicken and egg situation Toal believes the lack of accessibility by foot bike or society transportation unlike the Eastside Beltline forces patrons living outside the Westside and its popular restaurant and retail districts to drive in and park or take a ride share like Uber or Lyft If I decide to eat at home rather than going out it s not because of the cost It is laborious to get to the Westside Provisions District Toal revealed The Howell Station neighborhood doesn t patronize the core of the Westside as much as you d expect Toal feels that residents will frequent a business they can get to in minutes If you re walking you cannot get from one side of the tracks to the entertainment on the other side of the tracks in minutes You just can t do it he mentioned Nearly a -minute walk from Howell Station sits Westside Motor Lounge on Echo Street off Northside Drive a sprawling restaurant and bar complex with lawn games live music and spaces to host large events tied to hometown teams like the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United It s about a -minute walk or -minute bus ride from Westside Motor Lounge to Mercedes-Benz Stadium even though it s less than two miles away Related Stories Elsewhere Brewing closing Grant Park and Westside Paper locations Dumpling Factory opening at Westside Paper Map of neighborhoods surrounding the Howell Mill Road corridor Via Upper Westside CID Neighborhoods around Atlanta s west side north of I- Via Google Maps Related Stories Restaurant owners talk operating amidst challenges on Atlanta s west side Snapshot A day in the life of a Westside restaurant owner The way people patronize businesses in Atlanta is based on nodes Toal disclosed Most of people will drive but they re just as likely to patronize a restaurant two blocks away as on the other side of the city because they re going to drive The Eastside Beltline is a series of what city planners call activity nodes or designated regions with a high concentration of residential and commercial advance restaurants shopping and entertainment located near a transportation hub Think of the stretch from Ponce City Area to Krog Street Territory on the Beltline You can have a whole day just going down the Eastside Beltline The Westside Trail is not like that Almost everything on the Westside Trail is residential Toal explained There are very sparse places to stop and spend money Access to green space Naomi Green a board member of the Howell Station Neighborhood Association moved from Tucker nine years ago with a very YIMBY Yes In My Back Yard attitude She wished green space walkability and connectivity Until a limited weeks ago Green would have chosen to drive less than five minutes to access Shirley Clarke Franklin Park In the current era it can take minutes to safely walk there due to noncontinuous winding paths and sidewalks through the Bankhead MARTA station Georgia Power s property and Grove Park neighborhood Green feels the park is one of the city s greatest assets While not inevitably easy residents like herself can walk or bike to Shirley Clarke Franklin Park People living outside the area however need to drive there A Step Above Furniture on Donald Lee Hollowell one half mile west of Westside Motor Lounge Photo by Logan C Ritchie Future Westside Beltline trail and trail connections under construction Via The Atlanta Beltline Related Story Westside Reservoir Park renamed to honor former Mayor Shirley Franklin Green served on the Westside Equitable Progress Task Force for two years meeting with city authorities to discuss how Shirley Clarke Franklin Park previously called Westside Reservoir Park would impact the surrounding neighborhoods with historically and predominantly Black residents In Microsoft laid out plans to build a -acre campus in Grove Park employing people The task force included representatives from Microsoft the Atlanta Beltline Atlanta Watershed the PATH Foundation and residents of Grove Park Center Hill Almond Park and Howell Station The task force s conversations ran the gamut from transportation and gentrification to Microsoft s position on weekend parking in the company s decks But Microsoft went dark in and then-mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms didn t run for reelection The conversations with the task force didn t continue with the new mayoral administration Green also added that Shirley Clarke Franklin Park was named without involving the region Access to Howell Mill Road commercial district Pedestrian access to the bustling Howell Mill Road commercial district with its trendy taco bars and upscale date night spots has improved since the introduction of the Upper Westside Society Improvement District Upper Westside CID in District Atlanta City Council Member Dustin Hillis called the Howell Mill corridor one of the city s greater part striking transformations The reason the Howell Mill corridor has been such a hot spot of evolution over the past two decades is due to the fact that it was a large mostly derelict industrial corridor with relatively cheap land during that time noted Hillis of his district Despite the Department of City Planning s long-standing initiative of preserving industrial-zoned land which District has more of than any other district residents generally deeply desire and help these destination multi-use projects over the metal scrapyards textile mills or long-vacant parcels they replace The corridor has been modernized with bright green bike lanes bus shelters and new crosswalks which make it more ideal for pedestrians and cyclists but a nightmare for drivers who can pay up to to park That s why Green walks from her home in Howell Station to Westside Provisions District at Howell Mill and th Street to meet her parents for dinner or have drinks with neighbors I would bike if there wasn t a big hill reported Green Otherwise I would feel confident biking now In the present day there are sidewalks between Green s house and Howell Mill Road but reliable continuous sidewalk access has been a struggle since she moved to the area Green estimates that for the last three to five years the sidewalk in front of the King Plow Arts Center on West Marietta Street has been complex to address due to ongoing water damage A new expansion will come in and they will ramp up a piece of a sidewalk and it will take them a year to replace a five-by-seven piece One tiny little five-by-seven piece Green announced If you have a stroller if you re on a bicycle or have any type of mobility issue that one five-by-seven piece is an obstacle New bikes lanes now run along Howell Mill Road in the heart of the Westside s commercial district Photo by Logan C Ritchie A bike lane veers off of Howell Mill Road onto Brady Avenue Photo by Logan C Ritchie New developments also cause disruption in walkability and ADA compliance like the sidewalk at the corner of the QTS statistics center on Jefferson Street that has remained unfinished for years Then there s the shaky Marietta Boulevard bridge near Huff Road Green revealed One lane has been closed due to a hole in the rebar and another hole is forming It s a major thoroughfare for -wheelers because of the railroad piggyback a loading and unloading point for tractor trailers and container trucks I don t walk slowly across that bridge Green mentioned A contemporary freight research recommended limiting trucks near the Beltline s Westside trail Green declared she has to trust city administrators when they promise issues like the Marietta Boulevard bridge is on their radar The QTS Information Center Photo by Logan C Ritchie More connected trails Hillis stated he clearly sees the big picture issues on the Westside namely the lax constituents transit system which the city does not control and the involvement of the Georgia Department of Transportation which oversees state roads like Howell Mill MARTA itself also isn t blameless as they have not expanded heavy rail in a quarter-century and so far have not delivered or even started construction on a single light rail project proposed in the More MARTA tax that voters approved almost nine years ago now Hillis disclosed A proposed Bus Rapid Transit line running along Northside Drive parallel to Howell Mill Road on Atlanta s west side never materialized The closest MARTA rail stations to a large number of Westside neighborhoods north of Downtown are Bankhead on Donald Lee Hollowell Vine City on Northside Drive and Midtown and Art Center stations in Midtown The Howell Mill Complete Streets plan however did improve selected of the bike and pedestrian safety issues by filling in sidewalks building out bike lanes increasing lighting reconfiguring intersections and adding more ADA-compliant pedestrian ramps Our city s taxpayers continue to bear the burden of maintaining and improving our city s infrastructure on their dime while metro Atlanta residents who live outside the City of Atlanta utilize it but contribute far less Hillis announced Map showing the proposed -mile trail expansion in Atlanta Via Trails ATL Hillis who is up for reelection for the District city council seat reported he plans to continue focusing on the TSPLOST renewal and bond issuance to increase safety expand the trail infrastructure just in the last few days laid out by TrailsATL and fill the need for better sidewalks in plenty of neighborhoods The City of Atlanta distributed a document in June mapping a -mile trail expansion of which miles will be in District see pages - Phase I alone will cost million and take years to build out The District Phase projects include connections to Whetstone Creek Trail in Riverside and Proctor Creek Greenway in Grove Park A nearby Phase project in District includes a connection to the Lionel Hampton Trail starting south of Georgia Tech heading into Downtown This proposed trail expansion is meant to transform Atlanta and provide safe and inviting all-ages all-abilities access to percent of Atlantans For District specifically the proposed trails would eventually make commercial districts like Brookview Heights The Works Upper Westside and Atlantic Station within a -minute walk from homes in nearby neighborhoods The post Steady improvements may make Atlanta s west side more connected pedestrian-friendly appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta