Midtown Atlanta’s irritatingly unfinished Proton Center is about to be even more annoying

For years, the massive pit/half-finished Proton Therapy Center at the corner of Peachtree Street and North Avenue has been a source of frustration for many Midtown residents.

The protracted construction process has been an unwelcome and unsightly fact of life for going on five years. And while the lack of progress on the prominent site has been irritating, the low-slung final product on the city’s preeminent thoroughfare hasn’t done much to excite locals either.

Now, the project is slated to hit Atlantans where it really hurts: the streets.

According to the AJC, construction on the Proton Center will require the closure of Juniper Street—a five-lane southbound artery—between Ponce de Leon and North avenues. Ouch.

The closure will begin June 26 and reportedly continue all the way through October, as crews work to install components weighing up to 90 tons.

Juniper Street traffic will be detoured eastward to Argonne Avenue and then back to Courtland Street (which is what Juniper Street turns into at North Avenue). The routing will add four traffic lights and nearly a mile to the trip between Midtown and downtown.

Alternatively, drivers will likely choose to disperse onto parallel routes, including Peachtree Street, Myrtle Street, and Penn Avenue.

Google Maps

While the block-long closure isn’t quite an I-85 collapse-level catastrophe, it’s likely the nuisance won’t win the already unpopular project any favor. But at least this high-tech building might finally be finished.

Michael Kahn, Curbed Atlanta

• Busy Midtown road closing for months for completion of cancer facility [AJC]
• Midtown’s stalled Proton Center on Peachtree Street to finally move forward [Curbed Atlanta]