Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Atlanta

Atlanta is Blowing Safety Money on a Flashy Ped Bridge

Rendering: CPL

A pedestrian bridge rising over the Atlanta Falcons' stadium site is becoming a symbol of the city's misplaced priorities.

Pedestrian advocates say the city has about $1 billion in needed sidewalk and curb-ramp repair work. But such necessary safety investments are being shortchanged in favor of a $33 million pedestrian bridge over Northside Drive, between the Mercedes Benz Stadium and a MARTA station.

The costs of the bridge have climbed almost $10 million since the project's genesis, bringing Atlanta's contribution to $27 million, the urbanist site ThreadATL reports.

Worse, thanks to lack of funds, the city is putting on hold other complete-streets projects that would offer real safety benefits to a greater number of pedestrians than does a bridge catering only to a select number of stadium goers. City leaders recently cut such projects off the city's "Renew Atlanta" bond list for lack of funding. Meanwhile, the pedestrian bridge ate up $19 million in "Renew Atlanta" bond funding — when it wasn't among projects voters approved for such funds in the first place.

Darin Givens, a local walkability advocate, says it would have been much smarter to design a street-level safe crossing at Northside Drive. In fact, that's what the neighborhood -- Vine City -- called for in its master plan.

"It’s an amazing sum for a pedestrian bridge that basically serves the needs to people who are driving to the parking lots of Northside Drive so they can walk in the pedestrian bridge to the stadium," he told Streetsblog. "It basically gets pedestrians off the street so they don’t get slowed down."

"It’s completely antithetical to what we should be doing," he said. "We should be promoting more transit use."

The pedestrian bridge, however, was supported by Atlanta's previous mayor, Kasim Reed. ThreadATL's Lauren Welsh said the mayor wanted "something fancy for Super Bowl 2019."

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Friday Video: Amtrak Is Way More Successful Than You Think

Why do so many people still treat Amtrak as a failure — and what would it take to deliver the rail investment that American riders deserve?

October 24, 2025

Friday’s Headlines Are Hanging Out Down the Street

The same old thing we did last week — until the neighbor wrote a letter to the editor.

October 24, 2025

Report: Lessons from California’s HSR Project

A new paper from the Mineta Institute looks at California's high-speed rail project—and how to do better moving forward.

October 23, 2025

Talking Headways Podcast: Life After Cars

Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon of The War on Cars podcast on their new book, opposing views, Turtle Jesus and potential off-ramps towards car-free cities.

October 23, 2025

Traffic Congestion Is a Housing and Transit Problem, Not a Highway Problem

To truly solve tangled traffic in California (and across the U.S.), we need to take the problem out of the hands of the road builders and address the root causes of congestion: building more affordable housing near jobs and improving public transportation options.

October 23, 2025

Truckers Back NYC Busway Plan That Trump Blocked

The federal government has obviously lost its trucking mind.

October 23, 2025
See all posts