Atlanta Streets Alive returns in two weeks; new route on tap for ‘17

Hard to believe, but Atlanta’s celebrated, periodic open-streets initiative is entering its seventh year, and beginning this month, plans call for going big in ‘17.

For four hours on the afternoon of April 23, Atlanta Streets Alive will officially be back (following its customary winter hiatus) with an expanded, four-mile Southside route that’ll connect nine neighborhoods, officials said this week.

ASA

They expect crowds of 100,000 at the multimodal street party along Georgia Avenue and Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard. Streets will be off-limits to cars and open to walkers, bikers, skaters, or anyone else not behind the wheel.

Streets Alive is shrinking the sheer number of events from four last year to three in ‘17, but they will debut a fresh “Westside” route in June, which will use key corridors such as Northside Drive Marietta Street and Howell Mill Road for the first time.

Launched in Atlanta via a relatively small Edgewood Avenue fiesta in May 2010, Streets Alive was inspired by the street-closure ciclovia in Bogotá, Colombia—a program that’s been duplicated in cities around the world over the last three decades.

In the past seven years, Streets Alive has staged more than 11 events in 13 Atlanta neighborhoods, attracting 179,000 people in 2015 alone.

ASA

This month, the route linking Grant Park to Westview opens at 2 p.m. with the traditional Great Bicycle Parade. As part of the “Funkadelic Clyicious” theme, expect live music in West End and Grant Park and the launch of ASARadio, which attendees can stream on personal devices during the event.

Because it’s just not springtime in the ATL without live music and big free events.

Curbed Atlanta

• Atlanta Streets Alive [site]
• Streets Alive Brings Party to the Southside [Curbed]