Politics & Government

Buckhead CID Receives $1.5 Million Livable Centers Grant

ARC awards funds for Peachtree Boulevard Phase III from Maple Drive to Shadowlawn Avenue

The Buckhead Community Improvement District will receive a $1.5 million grant from the Atlanta Regional Commission's Livable Centers Initiative, ARC announced.

The grant was awarded for Phase III of the Peachtree Boulevard project, which will make improvements to Peachtree Road from Maple Drive to Shadowlawn Avenue. from Ga. 400 past Lenox Mall and Phipps Plaza to Roxboro Road. Phase II is to be completed by the second quarter of 2012.

The Buckhead CID grant was among 13 ARC awarded to local governments and nonprofits "to build innovative transportation projects," according to a news release.

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According to ARC, the $3.68 million Phase III would reduce lanes in the congested Peachtree block from six to four, add wider sidewalks and landscaping buffers, install bicycle lanes and make median, traffic light and turn lane improvements.

"We applied for the grant, but we have work to do before we can have access to it," Buckhead CID Executive Director Jim Durrett said in an e-mail.

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ARC spokesman Jim Jaquish said that the projects were selected to move into the "scoping phase." At that time, the Buckhead CID will submit its plans to the Georgia Department of Transportation for approval. Without that approval, the funds won't be committed, he said.

The project includes benches, burial of overhead utilities, improvements for handicapped access and improved drainag, Jaquish said.

"Peachtree Road has been identified in various studies and plans as heavily
congested, unfriendly to pedestrians and bicycles, and a location where vehicle accidents regularly occur," Jamish said in an e-mail. "The median will reduce crash frequency and severity in the corridor."

The LCI program is funded with federal transportation dollars, ARC said. Each community must also pay matching funds to help cover project costs. The local share of the Phase III work is $2.15 million, ARC said.


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