ATLANTA — Seventy years ago, the downtown connector split the center of Atlanta into two. The split created significant impacts on Black neighborhoods that were once united throughout the area.
Now, there is a renewed effort to “stitch” them back together.
Congresswoman Nikema Williams and Central Atlanta Progress President A.J. Robinson announced a new federal grant to help fund the stitch project.
“‘The $1.6 million, as you heard AJ stated, that will go into making sure that we can get the community input. Because that’s what happened in the 1956 federal highway project,” Williams said.
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The stitch project runs from West Peachtree Street to Cortland Street, where Interstate 75 and Interstate 85 run through downtown Atlanta.
“You saw in the 50′s and 60′s the interstate systems went through center cities, primarily displacing low and middle income black neighborhoods. And that’s what happened here,” Atlanta City Councilman Amir Farokhi said.
The stitch will cap the downtown connector from Civic Center MARTA station at West Peachtree Street and Piedmont Avenue.
In a video from Central Atlanta Progress, you can see where the 14 acre project would take shape and add green space and affordable housing.
“It should be part of any housing conversation in the city,” Farokhi said.
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City leaders hope the stitch project will heal the wounds made when the interstate was built.
“So we were going to try to change all that with this project. We really think it will improve the livability of downtown, and it will address the issue, like Nikema said, of affordable housing and retaining a competitive workforce and jobs right here in the central city,” Robinson said.
Even though it may stitch the neighborhood back together, some say it may be too late to unite it again.
“Will it bring residents back where they were before? No, but we have a chance to add a lot of housing and a lot of affordable housing,” Farokhi said.
There is no timeline on when the project will start, but leaders say it is expected to be completed by 2032.
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