Who says there’s never love south of Interstate 20?
Next month, Atlanta’s biggest street festival will move from the heart of downtown and midtown to a new route that will run from a green space in the West End along the Beltline to the doorstep of the city’s oldest park.
Atlanta Streets Alive kicks off a series of three monthly events on Sunday, September 15, from 1 to 5 p.m., along a straight route from West End to Grant Park, with Mechanicsville and the bustling business district of Summerhill in between.
On October 20 and November 17, the line will return to this route, opening Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard and Georgia Avenue.
By our calculations, that’s just over three and a half miles. And that’s considerably longer than the 2.8-mile Peachtree Street route that Streets Alive has used at four consecutive events since its comeback last September.
The route planned for three Atlanta Streets Alive programs between Gordon-White Park (left) and Grant Park. Drive ATL
According to organizers Propel ATL and the Atlanta Department of Transportation, more than a dozen cross streets in neighborhoods along the West End-Grant Park route will also be open to pedestrians and cyclists during the three upcoming events. (An interactive map of the route can be found here.)
After a four-year hiatus, Streets Alive made a lively comeback in September, opening Peachtree’s lanes and sidewalks from south of Underground Atlanta to 15th Street in Midtown. The Peachtree route has been one of the best attended and most frequently hosted events over the years, with attendance often exceeding 100,000, volunteer enumerators estimated.
Atlanta Bicycle Coalition (now Drive ATL) Streets Alive was born, inspired by ciclovía Events in Bogotá, Colombia and other cities. The Atlanta phenomenon began on one day in 2010, when a section of Edgewood Avenue was opened to cyclists, skaters, walkers and anyone else who doesn’t drive. Over the next decade, Streets Alive hosted 29 events and spanned some 83 miles of the city’s streets, according to organizers, attracting an estimated 1.7 million people in total.
Atlanta Streets Alive on Georgia Avenue in Summerhill about six years ago. Urbanize ATL Archives
The last event before the hiatus was held in 2019 at Peachtree Square before being put on hold during the pandemic years as ATLDOT and other city leaders worked out the logistics of holding Streets Alive more frequently.
If all plans are realized, six different Streets Alive events in 2024 would be a record for a single year. The previous high was four in 2016.
Not to be outdone, the Howell Mill Road corridor west of Midtown is hosting its own Open Streets Bonanza again this fall.
The second annual Westside Stride is scheduled for Oct. 6 from noon to 6 p.m. This year, there will be live music, food, retail shops and other family-friendly activities along a roughly one-mile stretch between Trabert Avenue and 8th Street. (Tip: Don’t miss the music program in the Northside Tavern parking lot.)
Here is a look at this route:
Westsidestride.org
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