Major change coming to 75/85 Connector in downtown Atlanta (Overcapping Highway)

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Capping Downtown Atlanta Highway

If there was any doubt where Atlanta’s 61st mayor stands on whether downtown’s highway-capping park concept is a sound use of energy and resources, that should be erased now.

In a new promo video for the Stitch project, narrator Mayor Andre Dickens forecasts that “soon, empty [downtown] parking lots and underutilized properties will be transformed into a vibrant and diverse community … that’s due in large part to the funding and support provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.”

The one-minute and 50-second video was shared with government leaders from across the U.S. during National Infrastructure Week in Washington, D.C., which began May 15, according to Central Atlanta Progress.

Dickens nods to support from the Biden Administration, along with early funding for Stitch planning secured by Georgia legislators Nikema Williams, Raphael Warnock, and Jon Ossoff.

The video includes eye-popping statistical projections for what the 3/4th-mile highway-capping greenspace is expected to generate, according to Dickens: roughly 3,000 new affordable housing units and 13,000 jobs. The park would also be infused with $3 billion in private developer investments, according to the promo.

Dickens describes the 14-acre Stitch as “a once-in-a-generation project” that would link people with multiple transportation modes.

“Atlanta is on the cusp of something great,” says the mayor. “As we grow, it remains more important than ever to continue bringing our communities together. Despite its name, the Connector cuts our city center into two, separating Atlantans from essential opportunities and each other… Now is the time for change.”

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