Life News & Features

Atlanta City Council approves plan for more walkable Intown

However, students from Grady High School and residents who live along DeKalb Avenue questioned the council about its dedication to the “Complete Streets” program, which was created to address safety, congestion and walkability on major Intown thoroughfares. Grady students were particularly upset since little has been done to the busy 10th Street, Monroe Drive and Atlanta BeltLine intersection where student Alexia Hyneman, 14, was killed crossing the intersection on her bicycle in 2016.

The Atlanta Regional Commission forecasts that the Metro Atlanta region will grow to 8 million people by the year 2040—adding more than 2.5 million people and 1 million jobs. Recent approvals for transportation funding through Renew Atlanta, TSPLOST, and More MARTA, and the formation of the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority (ATL), all underscore the importance of transportation planning and the availing of resources needed to reset Atlanta’s streets.

Shortly after the city council adopted the transportation plan, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced the appointment of Jacob Tzegaegbe as the newly created Senior Transportation Policy Advisor to help usher ATP projects to completion. A graduate of Georgia Tech with both a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree in civil engineering, Tzegaegbe previously worked for McKinsey & Company as a strategy consultant for public sector, transportation, and logistics organizations around the world.