Mayor Dickens, Sen. Ossoff, city leaders announce $30M Atlanta BeltLine investment

ATLANTA - Mayor Andre Dickens and Sen. Jon Ossoff announced plans to break ground on a brand-new transportation project for the city of Atlanta. In a press conference held Monday afternoon, Ossoff said his office was able to secure a grant worth $30 million to improve transportation on the Southside of Atlanta.

"Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law," Sen. Ossoff began, "My team and I were able to play a supportive roll in ensuring that $30 million are on the way to the city of Atlanta for the purposes of making pedestrian and bike access, and pedestrian safety improvements to connect neighborhoods across the Southside."

Ossoff clarified that pedestrian and bike improvements would be made along Pryor Street and Central Avenue to connect neighborhoods along the Southside BeltLine trail to downtown Atlanta.

This is in part thanks to the mayor's ambitious goal of seeing Atlanta's traffic-related fatalities completely eradicated. He introduced that idea in the 2022 Moving Atlanta Forward Infrastructure Package that he said invested $10 million into this same project.

The progress of the project is also a product of an Atlanta City council member's own proposal. 

Council member Jason Dozier said he was particularly excited about the approved budget because he proposed an ordinance back in early January to protect walkers and cyclists by changing zoning regulations in the city.

In January, Dozier said there had been 14 pedestrian fatalities since 2015 on the BeltLine alone.

"We had nearly 2000 crashes in the last five years," Mayor Dickens said referring to the city of Atlanta as a whole.

The city leaders did not disclose a timeline on construction or when the project was expected to be finished.