After years of advocacy by residents and organizations such as the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, the long awaited Complete Streets improvements for Cascade Road are nearing reality. Atlanta City Council approved Resolution 21-R-3703 which authorized Atlanta Department of Transportation to use $20.9 million from Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) and the Renew Atlanta Bond to complete the improvements to the approximately 3.5 mile corridor of Cascade Road/Avenue between Kingsdale Drive and Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard.
The improvements are largely focused on safety, the scope of which includes filling gaps in the sidewalk network, extending and improving bicycle lanes, bus stop enhancements, pedestrian crosswalk islands and signal upgrades, all to be completed concurrently with resurfacing and restriping of the road surface. The project website also lists the construction of a 10-foot shared-use path along Cascade between Willis Mill Road and the City Limits. Detailed plans for the improvements have not yet been made available by ATLDOT.
A portion of the improvements have already been completed, including utilities relocation and parcel allocation, to the tune of $2,452,212, according to the project website. Previously, ATLDOT had aimed to begin construction on the remainder of the project in Spring of 2021, but the project website currently lists the construction start date as September 2024. The resolution passed by Council specifies the funding is to be spent within two years, with a one year extension option.
The funding comes after over a decade of residents raising concerns over the Cascade Road’s dangerous conditions, including lack of sidewalks, crosswalks, bicycle facilities, turn lanes, medians, and numerous potholes. The lack of safe road conditions likely contributed to the death of David Gordon, who was struck and killed in 2019 by a driver who failed to yield as he crossed Cascade Road. The road had been slated for Complete Street improvements under Renew Atlanta in 2016, however funding cuts indefinitely delayed improvements on Cascade Road, despite the fact that the road ranks third on the city’s High Injury Network as identified in Atlanta’s Transportation Plan. Only Moreland Ave. SE and Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. SW have the unfortunate distinction of being more dangerous corridors.
The death of David Gordon spurred a demonstration in May of 2019 calling for the City to act on the dangerous conditions of the corridor. The demonstration, called “Walk a Mile in Cascade’s Shoes” brought together dozens of residents, students, parents and advocates to march along Cascade and temporarily halted traffic at the crosswalk between Rogers and Donnelly Avenue where David Gordon was killed. The marchers stood across the road hand in hand chanting “Respect Cascade” to demand action on the high injury corridor.
