ThreadATL

Info from an insider:

The Stitch already has funding in place for the preliminary design work; leaders are formally establishing a Stitch organization; it will shift to a more philanthropy-based funding model for construction costs & they'll try for federal funds again in the future.

Supposedly the Stitch is still happening despite the loss of federal funds? How?

"While the loss of this funding is disappointing, The Stitch is happening. The project will complete shovel-ready engineering... for phase 1 construction by mid-2026"

mailchi.mp/atlantadownt...

Finally! ATL DOT reports that work is underway on the long-promised Jackson Street Bridge redesign, which will feature a parklet and a protected bike lane.

See details here:
www.atlcitystudio.org/jackson-st-b...

Will potential federal cuts delay Atlanta’s downtown Stitch Project? The Stitch is a downtown Atlanta highway-capping project. Phase 1 is slated to start toward the end of 2026. However, will the Trump administration’s federal funding cuts impact the development?

When Trump's big bill passed this week, Atlanta's Stitch project (for capping a piece of downtown freeway with a park) lost its federal funding. The future of the plan is uncertain.

www.wabe.org/will-potenti...

Bike lane and bus stop

The new bike lanes on the Georgia Tech campus are looking nice! Parts are still under construction, but you can already see how impressive the network will be. Check out this bus stop + bike lane combo! It's helpful to have examples of great street design in the city to serve as a template.

Wow! We had to look it up to confirm it's true, and it is.

The North Carolina state legislature has passed a bill prohibiting local zoning laws from requiring a minimum number of parking spaces for developments. 💯

www.ncleg.gov/BillLookup/2...

ThreadATL co-founder Lauren Welsh's AJC op-ed rocks

www.ajc.com/opinion/2025...

Mayor Dickens' proposal to delay Eastside rail until Southside rail gets planned & built is a political tactic: appease Eastside rail opponents + promise a project that can't occur until after he's safely out of office

This tech for MARTA buses is a response to the death of a bus driver who was killed after getting in an argument with a fare evader.

Would it be safer if transit was free, with no fares? Maybe. But free transit is intensely complicated to provide & not likely to happen.

bsky.app/profile/huma...

MARTA bus drivers now have ‘fare evasion’ buttons For MARTA bus drivers, catching passengers who don’t pay their fare is now as simple as hitting a button.

MARTA buses will be equipped with a button that helps drivers avoid confrontations with fare evaders. The button notifies police, who can then watch a video from the bus & respond.

www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/06/18/m...

A question: can MARTA ensure that cameras constantly function on all buses?

The streetcar will be shut down for at least four months for unrelated utility work by GA Power & Watershed Mgmt.

Preventative maintenance is good, but you have to wonder if these needs could've been detected & addressed during streetcar construction 🤔

Willfully leaving half a billion a year uncollected property tax on commercial trophy towers is the main way this happens.
Fulton commissioners are responsible. They need a hefty shove. Andre has known about this revenue shortfall for 8 years. In office, refuses to lift a finger.

Federal cuts threaten to kill Atlanta's highway-capping Stitch project Legislation could pull $157M from long-planned park, infrastructure initiative, Warnock’s office warns

A tax bill proposed in D.C. claws back the $157.5 mil in federal funds promised to Phase 1 of Atlanta's Stitch, which caps a section of the Downtown Connector.

[Another project to put a cap over I-75/85, at GA Tech, was cancelled last summer due to lack of $]

atlanta.urbanize.city/post/stitch-...

How are we not able to leverage Atlanta's booming gentrification & investments to pay debts/salaries without raiding the affordable housing trust fund to this degree? Why are we seeing this level of debt?

Great reporting from Sean Keenan & kudos to the Councilmembers who raised red flags.

This is outrageous. Atlanta DOT needs to return the traffic calming devices to this section of Peachtree Street. How many more people need to die here before we act? This is a block and a half from the spot where another pedestrian was killed this year on Peachtree.

These posts and rubber strips at the Peachtree/Baker intersection extended the safety zone for pedestrians and forced drivers to make safer, wider left turns.

One study found that left-turning vehicles cause 3 times as many ped/cyclist casualties as right-turning ones.

We don't know the details of the collision that killed this pedestrian, but it's worth recalling: there used to be traffic-calming devices at this intersection as part of the Shared Peachtree project. They were removed (along with the whole project) by Mayor Dickens.

www.11alive.com/article/news...

The full vision for Civic Center redevelopment will apparently require a lot of patience.

The only component announced for now is a senior housing project, 148 units. Atlanta Housing expects to close financing on it "within the next quarter of 2025."

atlanta.urbanize.city/post/atl-hou...

Meeting poster

Last chance to comment on MARTA's new bus system, seen here:
www.martanextgenbusnetwork.com/draftnetwork

Attend a meeting in person:
www.itsmarta.com/public-heari...

The May 14 7pm meeting will be streamed at itsmarta.com.

Comments must be submitted by May 20 to:
publichearinginfo@itsmarta.com

We got a nice reply back from T4 about this. Essentially, the status of the Stitch funding is a little hard to pin down because it may be coming from different sources. They recommended reaching out to City of Atlanta staff for details on the status.

UPDATE: T4America may have some incorrect data about Atlanta's 'Stitch' project.

USAspending.gov shows the Stitch funding as having already been obligated, in which case it may not be threatened like the unobligated projects. We've sent an email to T4.

Map showing location of Stitch in Atlanta

Map showing location of Beltline connection to Flint River Trail in Atlanta

The House Majority’s Transportation & Infrastructure Committee is moving to repeal funding for projects nationwide, including a connection between Atlanta's Beltline & the Flint River, plus Phase 1 of the Stitch.

t4america.org/2025/04/29/r...

Atlanta Business Chronicle Article

Portman essentially says:
"Thanks for approving our development with 1,435 parking spaces on the Beltline! We still oppose rail."

They're opposing Beltline rail while also adding an amount of parking that undermines transit ridership. Ugh.

(Paywalled)

www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news...

What an incredible map! In red you can see every county in the U.S. that contains a subway line (meaning a heavy-rail transit system). Do Atlantans appreciate how lucky we are to have this? Let's make sure we take advantage of it with our urban planning and design.

Source: x.com/Colin_d_m/st...

Don’t Let Tree Protections Kill Housing Affordability! New Tree Protection Ordinance Adds Big Costs to New Housing What is happening? The City of Atlanta is rewriting its Tree Protection Ordinance. In pursuit of a city-wide forest canopy coverage of 50...

Please sign this @AbundantHousATL petition against the current draft of Atlanta Tree Protection Ordinance! It adds too many burdens to new housing construction, and it makes it less likely for parking lots to be developed if there are trees in the lot.

actionnetwork.org/letters/dont...

Parking Reform with Tony Jordan ThreadATL Podcast · Episode

We interview Tony Jordan, founder of the Parking Reform Network, for the new ThreadATL podcast! A key question we talk about: how do we convince folks who are outside the urbanism bubble about the goodness of reducing our dependency on cars & parking in cities?

open.spotify.com/episode/2V6k...

[One caveat about the post's mention of affordability: while adding market-rate housing plays a key role in preventing the worst price spikes in hot markets, affordability for the lowest-incomes groups requires targeted policies as well.]

If You Build It, They Will Come - 33n We full? A look at where the Atlanta region has been adding new housing.

"We full? Not even close. New housing development in the city demonstrates that we have the capacity to increase housing density, perhaps in ways that will spur increased use of transit and other forms of mobility besides the automobile."

💯

33n.atlantaregional.com/housing/if-y...

#GApol in case you wondered, Arthur Blank has pocketed $180M of Atlanta's hotel tax in the first 7 yrs of his MB Stadium deal. His heirs will hit $1 Billion in 2023 prices before it's done.

Can you think of better public uses for that billion dollars?
e.g., 5,000 affordable apts?

Take this survey -- let GDOT & ARC know how important it is for us to have good options for commuting beyond just driving a car!

gacommutersurvey.org?fbclid=PAY2x...

Seven Houston Downtown blocks to receive pedestrian-friendly redesign ahead of the 2026 World Cup | Houston Public Media Construction is expected to begin in May of 2025 and is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup is Houston.

Pedestrians still cross here, creating a desire-path that the City should accommodate.

Meanwhile in Houston, they're turning 7 blocks of their own main street into a pedestrian space
www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/new...

We have no lack of bold ideas in Atlanta. We lack support for them.

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