ATLANTA — Getting around Atlanta can come with plenty of headaches, so the city is getting a head start on solutions, starting with the roads themselves.
On Monday, the Atlanta City Council approved $120 million in bond funding for a large-scale transportation project, also known as 2024B.
Councilman Matt Westmoreland, who holds the Post 2 at-large seat, called the project generational. The bulk of the work will happen downtown and spill into Midtown and Southwest Atlanta.
The project will include 25 miles of road resurfacing and restriping, new crosswalks, $20 million in new street lights and traffic signal upgrades, 14 miles of sidewalk repair and accessibility installations, signage that aims to make getting around the city easier, and other infrastructure work.
“The success of Atlanta over the next 10 to 30 years will be judged in part on how many folks live downtown," Westmoreland said. "We're laying infrastructure groundwork for downtown to be a livable and vibrant neighborhood. If we do our job right, it'll be home to tens of thousands of people over the next 15 to 20 years."
Atlanta City Councilman Amir Farokhi, who holds the District 2 seat, said the city must prepare for hundreds of thousands of people to visit, move and live in Atlanta. He said the city typically has to piecemeal payments to stay on top of fixing roads, sidewalks and sewers because raising residents' taxes won't be enough. He said that through the bond markets and by working with Invest Atlanta, the city would be able to address wear and tear across different neighborhoods.
"This is a big deal. This is the biggest one-time investment downtown we may have seen ever," Farokhi said. "It's overdue. Our streets and sidewalks need a lot of attention, as anyone who's driven downtown can attest. This is the moment to do it. It's a moment where we're in the shadow of a lot of big events coming our way, Super Bowls, Final Fours, World Cup. But we're also in a moment where we need to revitalize and rethink what downtown can be."
With more eyes on Atlanta and more events headed the city's way, both city leaders noted that preparation needs to start now in order to be ready for the explosion of people soon to visit the city. It's expected Atlanta taxpayers will not see their taxes go up, at least in the short-term.
"This is a lot of money," Westmoreland said. "We want to spend it effectively and efficiently, and we want to spend it in a way that moves people around easier."
Westmoreland said Atlanta residents had previously voted to pass $750 million in infrastructure investments in 2022. He added that Project 2024B, along with other projects on Howell Mill Road, Campbellton Road and Casecade Road, will help revitalize the city. Work is set to begin on the latest transportation project in the next few weeks.