Atlanta Streets Alive to debut massive 10-mile route next year

A recurring, mobile street festival that aims to do nothing short of shift Atlanta’s culture—and opinions on the viability of non-vehicle transportation—is getting really ambitious for 2019.

With plans described as “slightly audacious and delightfully cohesive,” Atlanta Streets Alive officials have announced the longest route—called “Cross City”—since the events debuted as a “modest, interactive tactical urbanism demonstration” with just 5,000 participants on a stretch of Edgewood Avenue in 2010.

The city-spanning event, scheduled for June 9, will link the Westside route (Howell Mill Road, Marietta Street) with the Eastside route that debuted this year (Decatur Street, DeKalb Avenue) at downtown’s Five Points.

The street-closure hoopla won’t end there, however.

Curbed Atlanta

Atlanta Bicycle Coalition officials have announced the City of Decatur will host its first open-streets event the same day, beginning where DeKalb Avenue becomes West Howard Avenue, near the East Lake MARTA Station.

That means nearly 10 miles of open streets, spanning from Decatur, through downtown, to Underwood Hills.

“We’re going to need more time for this one, so we’re extending it to six hours of open streets, from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.,” officials said, per an ABC announcement.

Since its debut eight years ago, Streets Alive has seen 25 street activations across nearly 70 intown miles, with as many as 130,000 people in attendance. The Cross City route will be one of three planned for 2019.

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The flagship “Central” route will return to Peachtree Street in downtown and Midtown on April 7, while the third event is TBD, to a degree.

ABC officials are asking Atlantans to take a quick survey to determine exactly where a Southwest Atlanta route should be held next September.

Survey responses are due by January 15.

Atlanta Streets Alive