ATLANTA— The City of Atlanta is empowering its communities to implement low-cost, impactful road safety improvement projects in their neighborhoods using the updated Tactical Urbanism (TU) Guide, which is now available on the Atlanta Department of Transportation (ATLDOT) website.
Tactical Urbanism provides an opportunity for organized and insured civic associations, businesses, grassroot organizations and other community groups to enact short-term, low-cost interventions to improve roadway safety in local neighborhoods. The TU guide supports the City’s Vision Zero initiative focused on directing available resources to eliminate traffic injuries and deaths.
One such project was completed by the Kirkwood Neighborhood Organization (KNO), with funding from the NPU Community Impact Grant program and in-kind donations from local materials supply businesses, and with guidance from City staff. According to Kirkwood resident Jack Cebe, his neighborhood organization used the City’s 2020 Tactical Urbanism Guide to develop and implement a pedestrian safety project—complete with tactical curb extensions and lane narrowing—within six months.
“The Atlanta Department of City Planning and ATLDOT were close partners in quickly reviewing the application and design documents, providing helpful feedback and approving the project in a reasonable timeframe for us to meet our build-day target,” said Cebe. “The Kirkwood Neighborhood Organization hopes to utilize this great program again in the future to help make Kirkwood streets safer places to walk, bike, play and drive.”
In addition to the original six project types included in the first version of the TU Guide used by the Kirkwood community, the 2022 edition features six new project options – tactical slip lane closures, demonstration bike lanes, tactical bus stop enhancements, pedestrian space art, and lane narrowing.
More information can be found here.
City of Atlanta’s Vision Zero Program Making Streets Safer
