The Buckhead Community Improvement District has issued request for bids from developers for the Piedmont Road widening project, which would attempt to alleviate congestion on one of the road’s most heavily-trafficked areas.
A half-mile stretch of Piedmont Road between Peachtree and Lenox roads will be widened to allow an additional lane in each direction. There are currently five lanes on Piedmont Road, two in each direction and center turn lane. The widening would bring the total number of lanes up to seven.
The project is estimated to cost nearly $25 million and take 18 months to complete. About $17 million of the total cost would be used to buy right of way needed to widen the road.
The CID explains in the Request for Qualifications document that “peak hour traffic congestion causes long queues and delays on Lenox Road and Piedmont Road” and the number of crashes on the road has increased in the last three years. This project is meant to alleviate those problems, as well as provide more access for pedestrians and cyclists and serve as a future connection to PATH400, the CID said in the document.
The deadline for contractors to submit proposals is Dec. 8, and the CID will chose a contractor in January 2018.
Who’s paying for the cost of this project? Is the amount being split between the City of Atlanta and CID? If so, what is the split?