Like many metropolitan areas, Atlanta is famous for traffic. A few years ago, the joke was Atlanta is thirty minutes from Atlanta. Now it often takes an hour or more to get from one side of the city to another. If you’re traveling from outside of the perimeter, an hour to your destination would be a blessing. Since the pandemic, traffic patterns have changed for the better, but rush hour often starts at 2PM and might last until 7PM, depending on your route. Transportation can often be a real challenge with construction throughout the metro area, including major thoroughfares and city streets. Mayor Andre Dickinson named Solomon Caviness, IV Transportation Commissioner for Atlanta. Commissioner Caviness joins us today to provide an update on the city's successes and challenges.
Earlier this year, the mayor spoke about the “Light Up the Night” initiative involving Georgia Power. This initiative replaced and added lighting to our city streets. He shares that the initiative has added 17,000 total lights with upgrades or replacements. The initiative is moving into the fourth phase and pursuing other stakeholders, including Georgia Power, to continue lighting our city streets.
If citizens want to request lighting, they can contact customer service at 404-546-0311 or ATL311.
Another transportation challenge has been DeKalb Avenue, citizens demanded significant changes, and the response has been to remove the center “suicide” lane, which changed from AM to PM, and to add protected bicycle lanes. This project is ongoing but should wrap up in a few months.
Caviness says that some infrastructure challenges “don’t discriminate” when I mention the pothole challenges all over Atlanta. I asked about synchronized traffic lights, which are prevalent in the Northeast but absent in Atlanta. Caviness, who began his career in that region, says speed in our city is one reason for the lack of synchronization. Also, Atlanta isn’t laid out on an actual grid.
A child of Atlanta, I asked Caviness how he came to work in this role. He speaks about growing up in a community where service was a given. He graduated from undergrad in 1994 with a degree in civil engineering. He received a Master’s in Civil Engineering and an MBA. Before coming to Atlanta, he led the Middlesex County Department of Transportation, where he established the first Vision Zero County in New Jersey. He has brought the Vision Zero plan to our city.
For more information on the City of Atlanta Department of Transportation
For more information on Solomon Caviness
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