Atlanta receives $157M federal grant to bring the city together with ‘The Stitch’ project

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – If you take a look at Atlanta on a map, you can see Midtown and and Downtown are divided by the highway system.

Jack Cebe with the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District described what the interstate system did to the city.

“Removing 24,000 people who used to live here from their homes, mostly low income black neighborhoods and dispersing that wealth and those community connections,” he said.

The city wants to fix that.

“The Stitch is a project to basically put a lid over the interstate and cover it with park space,” said Cebe.

The project just got a financial shot in the arm of more than $157 million in federal funding. Phase one of the project will build a 14-acre greenspace over 75 and 85, reconnecting Downtown and Midtown. Cebe said it will also connect east and west segments of the Atlanta Beltline to Downtown.

“It’s about getting people to this area as much as it is making this place a nice place to be,” said Cebe.

The project is being praised by Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens as well as Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock.

“This is literally correcting and repairing an old age wall and reconnecting communities. We have these pieces of infrastructure that go right through our city in those days where they called it urban renewal. Well, there are a lot of people who were displaced in order to do that renewal,” said Warnock.

Cebe said it is time to ensure all Atlantans have access to entertainment, jobs, and more on all sides of town.

“The Stitch is really trying to serve as a bridge between what’s going on in Midtown and what’s going on in parts of Downtown too,” he said.

Beyond just the greenspace, Cebe said they will also add pedestrian and bike friendly streets. MARTA is also on board, making sure that affordable transportation remains an option. Phase one construction is set to begin in 2026 and end in 2029. There are two more phases left to complete the project after that.

Copyright 2024 WANF. All rights reserved.