Complete Street overhaul of Avondale Estates’ main drag is coming

Avondale Estates was anointed in January the latest recipient of the prestigious, nonexistent Golden Urby Chalice of Champions, and in several ways the DeKalb County city continues to prove the honor was no fluke.

As 2023 begins to wind down, Avondale Estates is moving forward with a Complete Street overhaul geared toward making its main commercial strip safer and a park-side development that aims to create vibrancy, while celebrating “prestigious” new credit ratings that lay a solid basis for continuing momentum, according to city leaders.

The Complete Street Project for U.S. Highway 278 (North Avondale Road/East College Avenue) aims to redo a five-lane highway and skinny sidewalk that pass Avondale Estates’ new Town Green and many of its most popular restaurants and shops.

Avondale Estates spokesperson Ellen Powell tells Urbanize Atlanta the project is out to bid now, with all proposals due from construction firms by Nov. 30.

The project calls for reducing the roadway to three lanes for roughly 1.15 miles. At the western end, the Complete Street would start at Sams Crossing near MARTA’s Avondale station; from there, it would travel past the new park and through downtown, ending at Ashton Place.

Changes in between call for a 10-foot-wide path for pedestrians and bicyclists, upgraded traffic signals, a center median, landscape buffer, pedestrian and bike crossings, as well as road repaving and re-striping. (See a before/after slider depiction below).

“The new design will be more efficient, attractive, safer, and more accessible for cyclists and walkers,” Powell noted via email, “and will connect the historic neighborhood to downtown.” 

City documents stipulate the winning bidder must be able to complete the project within 18 months.