Just like cheesy, mushroom-y Waffle House hashbrowns, Ga. Highway 400 in Buckhead could one day be covered and capped. According to BuckheadView, a feasibility study to construct a nine-acre park above the expressway has received up to $10,000 in funding from the Buckhead Community Improvement District (BCID). Between Peachtree and Lenox roads, including the Buckhead MARTA station, a park could transform what is now a large commuter gulch in the heart of Buckhead into a huge green getaway within the urban environment. But before things get under way, the first step is to figure out who actually has rights to the space above the roadway and MARTA lines.
Preliminary indications are that the park could be located along PATH400 and bring one serious neighborhood amenity to a slew of new buildings in the area, including Cyan, SkyHouse and the proposed Tower Place highrise. While there is a question of who owns the air rights above Ga. Highway 400, members of the BCID have broached the subject with MARTA officials and a few members of the board may themselves control the rights, having owned much of the land that was appropriated by the state to construct the road in the early 1990s.
But like most major construction projects that involve multi-agency cooperation, feats of engineering and lots of money, don't get your hopes up for instant gratification. While Jim Durrett, executive director of the BCID, had initially asked for almost $50,000 to complete a concept study, the commitment of the initial $10,000 indicates that there's a long way between here and fruition. Then again, the very mention of such a project is progress, and maybe this parks-over-highways concept could start a larger trend in Atlanta. It worked for Dallas.
· BCID studying new Buckhead park over GA 400, MARTA [BuckheadView]
· In Photos: The Rapidly Changing Skyline of Buckhead [Curbed Atlanta]
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