Decatur’s mile-long Complete Street conversion has broken ground

Josh Green

Wed, 08/27/2025 – 08:24

A people-friendly, traffic-calming measure that’s been in City of Decatur’s pipeline for the better part of a decade is officially moving forward.

Work kicked off this month on the West Howard Avenue Cycle Track and Traffic Calming Improvements project between the southern fringes of Downtown Decatur and Atlanta’s city limits, city officials report.

Infrastructure and sidewalk work is underway now along a majority of the roughly one-mile route. It stretches from Commerce Drive (near Decatur High School) to the city’s western limits at Paden Circle (along the northern edge of East Lake MARTA station).

View of planned West Howard Avenue changes, looking east toward Downtown Decatur. City of Decatur/AtkinsRéalis Group Inc.

Extent of the roughly one-mile project, spanning from the Atlanta/Decatur line in the west (at left) to the doorstep of Decatur High School. City of Decatur/Landis Evans + Partners

Decatur’s current Complete Street conversion builds on the 2017 Reimagine West Howard Avenue planning initiative, with a goal of permanently remaking the four-lane thoroughfare into an inviting, two-lane neighborhood street.

The intent is to slow vehicle speeds and boost safety for bicyclists, pedestrians, and anyone else not traveling by car.

Only planter-shaped stains remain on West Howard Avenue where the temporary and controversial/iconic traffic-calming measures once sat. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta

The contract for the $1.87 million project—funded by Decatur’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST I)—went to Marietta-based Blount Construction Company.

The city’s timeline calls for construction to take roughly seven months, or until early spring. West Howard Avenue will be shrunk to two lanes for the duration of the project, and lane configurations are expected to shift multiple times.

Where infrastructure work has begun on West Howard Avenue near East Lake MARTA station. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta