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Health & Fitness

Midtown Gears Up for Change

Midtown Alliance needs your help in identifying spots for the next batch of bicycle racks to be installed in Midtown. Comment on this post and tell us where you'd like to see a bike rack in Midtown.

There’s a movement, led in large part by Millennials, sweeping Atlanta and cities around the world that is changing the way we plan for cities.  No, I am not referring to smartphones, apps, or anything related to new technology.  In fact, this trend relies on technology that is nearly two hundred years old – the bicycle.

Bicycles are not practical for everyone or for every trip but the pent up demand for cycling is unmistakable – just visit the BeltLine Eastside Trail for proof.  We’d be foolish not to embrace and encourage clean and healthy ways of getting around our city.  A recent survey in support of Greenprint Midtown showed that many of you would ride (or would ride more often) if bike lanes were present and bicycle parking were plentiful.  Like most urban neighborhoods in the U.S., Midtown was retrofitted post-war to make getting around by car easier to the detriment of walking and biking.  So, Midtown Alliance, with support from the City of Atlanta, Atlanta Regional Commission, and others has been working to create a more balanced transportation system by creating four miles of new bicycle facilities and fourteen miles of new sidewalks since 2001.  We still have a ways to go to create a seamless network of high quality bicycle facilities but we are committed to achieving this goal.   

To that end, the Atlanta City Council recently passed legislation pushed by Mayor Reed to allocate almost $2.5 million toward twenty-six bicycle infrastructure projects throughout the city.  Midtown Alliance will implement six of these projects right here in Midtown. These projects, when added to our existing slate of projects to improve bicycling safety and access (Juniper Street buffered bike lane, 10th Street Cycle Track, 5th Street green lanes, bicycle racks, etc.), will make Midtown one of the most bike-friendly neighborhoods in the region.

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And speaking of bicycle parking, we need your help in identifying spots for the next batch of racks to be installed in Midtown. Check out our new bicycle parking map and let us know where you think a shiny new bike rack should be installed by posting below or emailing to Dan@MidtownATL.com.

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