The city of Atlanta’s new Department of Transportation is setting the path for its first work, with its first commissioner appointed and a strategic plan released Nov. 13 by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
The new “ATLDOT” combines previously separate staff from the departments of Public Works, City Planning and the Renew Atlanta/TSPLOST program. The new commissioner is Josh Rowan, previously head of Renew Atlanta.
The new “Strategic Transportation Plan” has many short- and long-term goals for improving all types of travel: walking, driving, biking and using public transit.
An early initiative is adopting a “Vision Zero” policy, meaning design principles for eliminating traffic-related deaths. Among the other elements of the plan are building more protected bicycle lanes; adding sidewalks and crosswalks; repaving 200 miles of roads a year and making faster pothole repairs; “reducing the footprint of parking” in the city; and working with MARTA on better bus service, including a “high-frequency bus network.”