Atlanta’s first ‘pop-up bike lane’ to be installed near Piedmont Park

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’s office today announced Midtown’s 10th Street is slated to receive the city’s first pop-up bike lane.

The move is part of a $5 million plan Bottoms announced last month to make some 20 miles of intown streets more accommodating to people using alternative modes of transportation.

On October 19, city workers are expected to install a one-way, westbound bike lane on 10th Street from Myrtle Street to Juniper Street—a roughly 0.2-mile stretch just west of Piedmont Park.

The project would be done in partnership with Midtown Alliance and would essentially extend the protected bike lane that runs along 10th Street on the south side of the park. (The existing bike path, however, runs in both directions.)

The lane would be created with temporary barriers and signage that would identify bus access points and car crossings.

The temporary lane will only be operational for a week; it will be removed on October 26.

“This pop-up will improve connectivity in the bike network, while providing a direct, safe route for people riding bikes and scooters to get from the Beltline to Peachtree Street,” reads a City of Atlanta press release.

Midtown Alliance spokesman Brian Carr told Curbed Atlanta that the objective of the pop-up is to study what happens when an automobile lane is repurposed and used by non-drivers.

City of Atlanta

The mayor’s Action Plan for Safer Streets will also see local officials collecting data on bike and e-scooter ridership, safety, community impacts, and car traffic.

“This information will help transportation officials better understand impacts of such infrastructure changes on the surrounding community,” the release says. “Findings will be shared as part of ongoing citywide engagement for safer streets designs across the city.”

The plan also aims to triple the city’s network of protected bike lanes—plus improve the conditions of those 20 miles of city streets—before the end of 2021.

City leaders are hosting a public meeting to discuss plans with the community at 5 p.m. Thursday at the 999 Peachtree Street.

This story was updated on October 8, 2019 at 1:22 p.m. to indicate the pop-up lane will only be available for a week.