Virginia-Highland’s Dynamic and Developing Transportation Infrastructure

By Jess Windham

Looking back, much of Virginia-Highland was built in a series of developments at the end of a street car line in a time when few people owned automobiles.

Looking forward, Virginia-Highland sits as one of the most dense and most walkable communities connected to a major pedestrian and bike thoroughfare: the BeltLine.

If you squint harder into the distant future, you might even see Virginia-Highland yet again becoming a street car community.

Sidewalks, street design, and bike lanes all play an integral part in our individual lives and our connectivity to the things we do every day. In the coming 18-24 months, we’re likely to see these elements of our community begin to improve.

One traffic-calming and pedestrian safety project we’ve been able to find traction on is the installation of a stop sign at Virginia Circle and Barnett. Keep an eye out for that in mid-July.

Virginia-Highland’s mix of walkable density, commercial interest areas, and proximity to the BeltLine make it an obvious choice for inclusion in the City’s bike share program. Contracts with CycleHop were signed in March, with the deployment of 500 bikes across 50 rental stations slated for this year. Having Virginia-Highland as a location for at least one or two bike kiosks especially makes sense when you consider the possibility of bike lanes on Virginia Ave., Monroe Dr., Kanuga St., Barnett St., and Saint Charles Ave as outlined in the recently adopted Master Plan for Virginia-Highland.

Recently voters supported the city’s request to issue bonds in order to address a backlog of deferred infrastructure maintenance. The list of projects was officially voted on by Council on May 2 and work will span the next five years, starting with any shovel ready projects breaking ground this summer. For Virginia-Highland, we won’t likely see work starting that quickly. However, between infrastructure bond funding and funding from Department of Public Works, we’re likely to see the bike lanes and sidewalk improvements shift from possible to very much a reality.

Planning discussions at a citywide level continue on the topics of Move Atlanta, Transit-Oriented Development, the Cycle 1.0 Atlanta Study, and a citywide freight study. Each topic is being revisited in recently proposed updated appendices to the city’s comprehensive plan, aka the Connect Atlanta Plan. You can join the discussion at the upcoming open houses listed below and more details found at http://www.atlantaga.gov/index.aspx?page=1228

June 15, City Hall

June 18, Agape Community Center

June 23, Atlanta Plaza Suite 850

June 29, James Orange Recreation Center