Recent news coverage highlighted several crashes involving the protected bike lane barriers on Cherokee Avenue. It's an understandable story. Photos of vehicles perched on top of concrete barriers naturally raise questions about whether the design is working. But those images also present an opportunity to ask a more important question. How should we evaluate street design? Too often, we judge transportation infrastructure by how quickly it moves cars or whether every driver navigates it perfectly. Modern transportation safety takes a different approach. It asks whether the transportation system protects people when inevitable mistakes occur. That distinction is at the heart of why protected bike lanes exist.

For nearly everyone in Atlanta, tripping on broken sidewalks is an annoying fact of life. But for people who use wheelchairs, bad sidewalks often mean the choice between risking injury or staying home. The City’s failure to fund sidewalk maintenance has been the biggest obstacle to change. For decades, the City of Atlanta has failed to enforce the ordinance assigning responsibility for repairs to abutting property owners. Instead, officials used it as an excuse for doing nothing. PEDS, the pedestrian advocacy organization I founded in 1996 that became part of Propel ATL after I retired in 2019, tried for decades to get the City of Atlanta to fix broken sidewalks. Op-eds, walking audits, presentations, advisory committees — you name it, we did it. But sometimes the only way to get across the street is through a courtroom.

Atlanta Families for Safe Streets draws a crosswalk made of hearts at 225 Peachtree during Atlanta Streets Alive Over the past several months, Propel ATL has been working to understand what happened to planned pedestrian safety improvements on Peachtree Street in Downtown Atlanta. Originally, the project plans called for a raised crosswalk near 225 Peachtree Street — a proven traffic-calming feature designed to slow vehicle speeds and make crossing safer for people walking. Later, those plans changed to a standard crosswalk. Then the project was paused altogether. No public explanation was given, so we set out to find one.

Earlier this month, a life was lost on Campbellton Road — another preventable death on one of Atlanta’s deadliest corridors. We still don’t know their name. Since January 2025, five people walking or biking have been killed on this road alone: January 30, 2025 — A 68-year-old pedestrian was killed February 24, 2025 — A 39-year-old pedestrian was killed in a hit-and-run February 12, 2026 — A 26-year-old pedestrian was killed March 28, 2026 — A 65-year-old pedestrian was killed by an impaired driver  June 9, 2026 — A 65-year-old bicyclist was killed by a delivery truck

Earlier this spring, Propel ATL’s Shifting Gears Program faced a major setback when 26 bikes and essential equipment were stolen from our youth cycling afterschool program in partnership with the City of Atlanta Department of Parks and Recreation. These bikes represented more than just gear—they were tools for confidence-building, independence, and safe mobility for Atlanta’s young riders. Shifting Gears Program in action before bikes were stolen

Photo Credit: Jason Getz on file at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Reader Discretion Notice: This article discusses recent incidents of violence, including a fatal attack and other assaults. It includes references to death, injury, and public safety concerns that readers may find distressing. Reader discretion is advised. June is National Ride Transit Month, a time to celebrate the joy, freedom, connection, and possibility that public transportation brings to our community. The month arrives as Atlanta prepares to welcome an estimated 500,000 international visitors for the World Cup games who will rely on public transit as a primary way to move through our city. However, for many, a shadow is cast on these festivities.