October carries a lot of weight when it comes to active transportation, from Pedestrian Safety Month to Biketober.
On the safety front, the Atlanta Department of Transportation’s Vision Zero Dashboard shows fewer people were killed while walking in 2023, so at least we’re going in the right direction. Tragically, one person was killed by a driver while biking in 2023 and two people while using scooters (these appear in the dashboard as bicyclists because of how crash reporting works in Georgia). Fewer people were badly injured while biking, so that’s also a bit of good news. Our volunteers are hard at work on our annual crash report. You can check out last year’s report, titled in honor of the 38 people killed while walking in the City of Atlanta in 2022, here.
October also means the first official meeting of Atlanta’s Fatal Crash Review Commission. We advocated for this commission and were appointed to serve on it. We will work hard to ensure it plays an active role in preventing future crashes and fatalities.
Take Action
Want to support safer streets for people this month? On Monday, October 7th, Atlanta City Council will consider legislation to approve a $120 Million bond for repaving streets on an expedited timeline for the 2026 World Cup.
When the legislation was first introduced, Councilmembers raised important concerns about the City’s bandwidth to take on a new set of projects when there’s a long backlog of taxpayer-funded promises dating back to 2015, 2016, and 2022.
And the $120 Million project list includes just $5 Million for sidewalks and ADA ramps. That amount of money doesn’t go far — we would get 2.89 miles of sidewalks and 82 ADA ramps. This in a City under a consent decree for ADA violations that recently settled an ADA lawsuit. What’s more, there are no plans to include planned bike/scoot infrastructure on the streets slated for repaving. Yet several of the streets have bike/scoot projects planned.
For example, Whitehall St SW and Jessie Hill Jr Dr were both “quick-build” projects approved and funded by City Council in 2015 but never built. If the City pushes forward with repaving streets without making the improvements residents have repeatedly asked and voted for in the name of getting ready for visitors, it will be a missed opportunity to do things right – not only by our guests, but for regular everyday Atlantans trying to get around the city.
Let’s rally to make streets being repaved for the World Cup safer for everyday Atlantans!
Join us in calling on Atlanta City Council to either fix issues with 24-O- 1483, the legislation being introduced at the City Council meeting Monday, October 7, or to vote against it.
- Sign the Petition (We’ll update this page as the issue develops.)
- Find your City Councilmember and send them an email – please copy [email protected]
- Call or contact via social media – please drop a link to let us know!