The Atlanta Department of Transportation is bringing Atlanta Streets Alive back to Peachtree Street for one Sunday each month, with the first installment operating from this September until the end of 2024. Photo by Janelle Ward/The Atlanta Voice
Atlanta Streets Alive will make its return to Midtown later this year, following a three-year hiatus primarily induced by the pandemic.
Previously hosted each year by Propel ATL since its inception in 2010, the event closes a portion of city streets to automated vehicles, giving cyclists and pedestrians full control of the commerce-heavy strip for four hours on pre-selected weekends.
The Atlanta Department of Transportation will host Atlanta Streets Alive along Peachtree Street for the first time since taking over the program this year, in partnership with Propel ATL.
Betty Smoot-Madison, mobility director for the Atlanta Department of Transportation, said during a virtual information session about the event last month that relaunching Atlanta Streets Alive will benefit the residents who participate, as well as the business owners whose establishments line and surround the Peachtree Street route.
“This is an exciting opportunity to really create true streets for people and bring vibrancy and excitement back to our core downtown and support the local economy,” Smoot-Madison said. “As we know, people walking and biking are more likely to stop into local shops and restaurants, either planned or unplanned, so it really is a great opportunity to bring life back to our streets.”
An ordinance was introduced to the Atlanta City Council in early 2022 that, if approved, would allow Peachtree Street to host Atlanta Streets Alive by temporarily closing for one afternoon monthly beginning in 2023. The council then voted months later to allocate funding to the program within its 2023 fiscal year budget.
Romy Maloon, lead for Atlanta Streets Alive at the Atlanta DOT, said the city aims to systematize the initiative into a monthly event by the end of the program’s 2024 cycle, classifying and budgeting it as “regular city business,” while generating a community-oriented atmosphere similar to that seen on the BeltLine.
Maloon also said that the closed section of Peachtree Street will serve as the only pedestrian route for the first installment of Atlanta Streets Alive, but organizers may explore additional routes in other parts of town in the future, depending on the program’s success.
“Our hope is that this is such a successful program that we can create this structured roadmap of how to do it and bring that to other neighborhoods in the upcoming years,” Maloon said.
According to Propel ATL and the DOT, the stretch of Peachtree Street spanning from 14th to Mitchell streets will be closed to vehicles from noon until 7 p.m. on each day of the event. MARTA buses that normally travel Peachtree Street will follow alternate routes during the posted hours. Select intersections will remain open for traffic to cross during hours of closure.
Atlanta Streets Alive is scheduled for the following Sundays from this fall until the end of 2024:
September 24, 2023
October 22, 2023
November 19, 2023
April 21, 2024
May 19, 2024
June 16, 2024
July 21, 2024
August 18, 2024
September 15, 2024
October 20, 2024
November 17, 2024
