Check Out These New Parklet Designs for Spring Street and West Peachtree
On Spring Street, ATL DOT crews near completion of a new bike lane, and we’re re-imagining former parking spaces as places for people
Published: 11/05/20
A conceptual rendering of a proposed parklet on Spring Street with bike parking.
While Atlanta Department of Transportation crews are hard at work on a “quick build” bike lane project on Spring Street, Midtown Alliance is looking ahead to the rare opportunity to create more open space in the district once the project and a similar project on West Peachtree are completed.
One of the impacts of the “quick build” design is that some on-street parking spaces behind the barrier-separated bike lane will no longer be accessible to vehicles. We’re re-envisioning these spaces as places for people, based on collaboration with retail tenants in the corridor and the results of a community survey we conducted earlier this fall.
More than 300 respondents weighed in to express their desires for how they could use this new space. Among the most popular parklet features sought were:
- bike parking
- shade
- plants/greenery
- seating
- art
A conceptuall rendering of a proposed parklet at 4th and Spring Streets.
“Our parklet initiative is a great example of taking leftover or orphaned spaces and retooling them as functional and attractive places for the community,” said Ginny Kennedy, director of urban design at Midtown Alliance. “Similar to recent plaza improvements implemented in partnership with MARTA at Midtown and Arts Center Stations, the parklets will feature public art and landscape enhancements to elevate the pedestrian experience and invite the public to enjoy these outdoor amenities.”
Architectural design firm TSW incorporated these elements into renderings for the parklets, seen above and below. The spaces will provide places for people to relax, play, eat and more. They will not only enhance the street level experience, but provide value to the restaurants and retailers that surround them.
These locations will accommodate space for parklets:
- Spring St between 3rd and 4th, west side adjacent to The Standard
- Spring St between 8th and Peachtree Place, west side adjacent to University House
- West Peachtree St between 3rd and 4th, east side adjacent to AT&T
- West Peachtree St at 13th St, east side adjacent to McCray’s Tavern
Seating in a proposed parklet on Spring Street.
The bulk of ATL DOT’s work on the Spring Street barrier-separated bike facility will be done this year, though it is still working to get permits from the Georgia Department of Transportation to complete the project. Pending the bike lane’s completion, the parklets will be built out in 2021. They will be 100% funded by the Midtown Improvement District.
ATL DOT crews striping lanes for the new bike lane at 12th and Spring Streets.
Quick-Build Bicycle Lanes Part of City’s Plan For Safer Streets
ATL DOT crews are currently striping the bike lane and crosswalks on Spring Street, as well as putting in the bike lane buffer between 5th and 8th Streets. Midtown Green will also install wheel stops for the project.
A similar project is slated to begin on West Peachtree Street once Spring Street is completed, pairing northbound access on West Peachtree with southbound access on Spring.
Both projects were announced by the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office in September 2019. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ Action Plan for Safer Streets is a two-year, $5M plan to implement safety improvements on more than 20 miles of streets in Atlanta and more than triple the city’s on-street protected network of bike and personal mobility facilities.
The Action Plan for Safer Streets kicked off October 2019 in Midtown with the creation of Atlanta’s first-ever Pop-Up Bike Lane, which was located on 10th Street, between Myrtle Street and Juniper Street and won an award from the Association for Commuter Transportation. See the city’s results from the pop-up here.
The West Peachtree and Spring projects will improve the two corridors for people on foot, on bicycles, and other mobility devices. It also reinforces the city’s commitment to Vision Zero, a transportation policy to eliminate traffic deaths and reduce crashes that Mayor Bottoms implemented earlier this year.
