How did GA 400 get built ITP? (Atlanta, Sandy Springs: hotel, houses, neighborhood)

[ATLTJL]

For old schoolers who was here when it happened....

We've been talking about roads in some threads on here and how difficult it is to get them built.

I lived in Buckhead for years and just kind of accepted that certain areas were very difficult to get around and many streets just seemed to dead-end for no reason and not go through like they should.

One day, I was up in the Intercontinental hotel when they first built it and it was the first time I really looked at Buckhead from that perspective. When you see it from that angle, it's totally obvious that GA 400 completely bisected Buckhead and just chopped it into two.

Buckhead has always had money and been politically powerful. So I'm just wondering, how in the world did they get GA 400 built right through Buckhead? Surely residents must have known it would do this.

It seems like nowadays you can't even expand a road without someone getting upset by it. How did they build a big, thick, grade separated highway to run right through the center of the premiere area of town?

[lorilove]

Here is some information

Georgia State Route 400 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I knew that planning for the road had been in the works for years (and yes there were many lawsuits) - according to Wikipedia planning started as early as 1954!

The building that GA400 runs under was actually built that way several years before the road was actually built.

[carrot]

it was supposed to connect to 675 with a giant interchange where the carter center is that would have connected to stone mt freeway. St mt freeway would have absolutely destroyed North Decatur, Lake Claire etc connecting over. The 400/675 connection would have destroyed Morningside, VA higbhladn etc. If you look at old aerials of freedom parkway from the early 90's you can see the on ramps that were being built for a limited access highway. I guess the neighborhood fought it and won...good thing! but the neighborhood was pretty annihilated where Freedom Parkway is now.

One of the picturs of the tv show "the walking dead" shows freedom parkway going into Atlanta as a 10 lane highway if you want to see what it would have looked like!

[Gulch]

To answer the OP's question on why it got built, it simply boiled down to the pro-tollway forces having more political pull than Buckhead/Sandy Springs residents opposing the road.

[carrot]

oh well, I still had fun with my answer!

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Gulch

To answer the OP's question on why it got built, it simply boiled down to the pro-tollway forces having more political pull than Buckhead/Sandy Springs residents opposing the road.

Exactly. The highway was bitterly fought, but couldn't be stopped. It sliced Buckhead and Sandy Springs right through the middle.

Though it has taken years for the northside communities to knit themselves back together, they have come a long way. Folks now build right up to the edge of the highway.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by carrot

St mt freeway would have absolutely destroyed North Decatur, Lake Claire etc connecting over. The 400/675 connection would have destroyed Morningside, VA higbhladn etc.

I wonder if that's true. Many communities have battled back after freeway construction and become as strong as ever. Look at Midtown today, or the 1-75 corridor through Buckhead, the GA 400 corridor through North Atlanta, or Grant Park and East Atlanta around I-20.

[ATLTJL]

What about roads like East Paces Ferry?

I'm assuming that before they built GA 400, that road connected. I'm amazed they didn't insist on a bridge or tunnel to keep E. Paces connected.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

What about roads like East Paces Ferry?

I'm assuming that before they built GA 400, that road connected. I'm amazed they didn't insist on a bridge or tunnel to keep E. Paces connected.

IIRC, the local residents were sick of cut-through traffic to Lenox, so the pedestrian bridge was a compromise.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

What about roads like East Paces Ferry?

I'm assuming that before they built GA 400, that road connected. I'm amazed they didn't insist on a bridge or tunnel to keep E. Paces connected.

You used to be able to get to Lenox Square via East Paces Ferry ... it came out behind Macy's (now Bloomingdales). We took that shortcut off Piedmont all the time, even though there were speed humps in the residential streets to slow traffic it was still a hell of a lot quicker getting to the mall than going up to Peachtree (obviously). The building that houses Buckhead Diner was originality a free-standing Gap store and where you turned to go to the mall. OH MY GOD IM SO OLD!

I think people forget that many of the residents of Buckhead *WELCOMED* the fact that Ga 400 forced dead-ends and eliminated tons of cut-thru traffic that was a chronic problem back in the day. Imagine what it would be like now? Also, the fact that there's only ONE exit off 400 in Buckhead (and it was a feeder road, not an existing road) was a compromise. GA 400 is truly a work of engineering genius, what with they financial center tunnels an the MARTA line. A beautiful example of what urban expressways can be!