Avondale Estates launches ‘tactical urbanism’ work to slow drivers down

Josh Green

Wed, 12/04/2024 – 16:16

As with other pockets of ITP Atlanta, the City of Avondale Estates has started deploying inventive, relatively low-cost measures as a means of slowing drivers down and boosting safety for non-motorists.

Work began this week on a “tactical urbanism” initiative called the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Project on two busy Avondale Estates streets as a means of calming driver speeds and deterring cut-through traffic in residential neighborhoods, according to city officials.

Phase one is focused on stretches of South Avondale Road and Kensington Road near the city’s growing commercial district.

Those streets were picked, according to a city study, because they’re ideal for bike routes, have been a hotspot for resident complaints about driver speed, and are natural cut-throughs.

Traffic-calming measures the city is implementing include new crosswalks and stop signs, parking for bikes and golf carts, and lane shifts, among other changes.

Scope of work for the initial phase of the recently launched Neighborhood Traffic Calming Project. Painted chicanes are defined as “an artificial narrowing or turn on a road.”City of Avondale Estates

The work is considered a pilot project and short-term test case that could convince city leaders to make more permanent investments in street alterations such as curbs and drainage infrastructure in the future.

As with all tactical urbanism efforts, the project is considered relatively cheap, consisting of new paint, a few vertical additions such as stop signs, and bollards (or short posts that thwart car travel).

All of the above could also be easily removed should that need arise, per the city.

Other examples of tactical urbanism have popped up in recent years across Atlanta. Those include a street mural project in Adams Park, parklets in former parking spaces in Midtown, and more recently, a citizen-organized, traffic-calming initiative on what neighbors call a Monroe Drive “drag strip,” among other projects.

In Avondale Estates, once phase one of the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Project wraps, city officials plan to evaluate the timeline and costs for installing additional phases.

Full scope of Avondale Estate’s Neighborhood Traffic Calming Project on residential streets. City of Avondale Estates

On nearby U.S. Highway 278 (or North Avondale Road/East College Avenue), the more permanent Complete Street overhaul of Avondale Estates’ main drag is continuing, after breaking ground in June.

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