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Contest entrants imagine 1-285’s future with a
monorail,
forests and more
BYJOHNRUCH
johnruch@reiportemewspapers.net
A ring of urban forest. A 64-mile-long river. The world’s
longest zip line or biggest skate park. Monorails and bus
lanes.
Those were just a few of the 50 ideas for the future of
1-285 displayed Dec. 6 in a contest operated by Atlanta Belt-
Line founder Ryan Gravel. The contest was intended to be
playful and far-out, Gravel said, but also a way of “train
ing people to think differently” about the massive Perime
ter highway’s social and cultural possibilities. After all, he
noted, the idea of a park/transit/trail loop on old Atlanta
railroad beds was once pretty wacky, too.
The submissions were displayed at Generator, Gravel’s
urban-planning nonprofit in Atlanta’s Poncey-Highland
neighborhood. He gathered a panel of influential locals to
serve as judges, including Atlanta BeltLine Inc. CEO Clyde
Higgs; City Planning Commissioner Tim Keane; Marian
Liou, founder of Broolchaven’s We Love BuHi and now an
Atlanta Regional Commission analyst; Rose Scott of WABE
News; Thomas Wheatley of Atlanta Magazine; Bern Joiner
of the creative agency Atlanta Influences Everything; Tim
Schrager of Perennial Properties; and Bithia Ratnasamy, a
city project manager on affordable housing policy.
Liou later said her top pick was 8-year-old Scarlett Partrain’s “The Zipline” - winner in
the contest’s “Best Utopia” category - and its depiction of a giant version of the ride where
people slide down a cable.
“My favorite was the ‘Zipline,’ because I love seeing children rethinking infrastructure
and our built environment with joy and fun in mind. We need more of that,” Liou said.
Gravel said he received 47 public submissions for the contest, and tossed in another
three himself to make an even 50. That matched one inspiration for the contest: 2019 is both
the 20th anniversary of his Georgia Tech thesis paper that proposed the BeltLine and the
50th anniversary of I-285’s completion.
Some of the idea were improbable fun, like turning the highway
into a “lazy river” ride or a 64-mile Porsche test track. Others were
within the realm of the possible, such as a monorail line similar to
versions proposed over the years by such officials as Sandy Springs
Mayor Rusty Paul. The Stuckey’s store company weighed in with a
concept for Georgia-grown produce sold in its stores at every exit.
The contest comes as the Georgia Department of Transportation
is planning its own major change to 1-285: adding “express lanes,” or
toll lanes, over the next 15 years, which could carry both private ve
hicles and mass transit buses. Gravel previously said the toll lanes
were not an inspiration for the contest, but that he would prefer a
“serious” transit plan. Regarding the content, GDOT spokesperson
Scott Higley said, “GDOT welcomes all forms of public input and
encourages community engagement,” but also thinks its toll lanes
plan is a good one.
“The benefits of express lanes are proven - and not just for us
ers of the express lanes,” Higley said. “Motorists and transit riders
on 1-75 and 1-575 have been experiencing the very real benefits of
the Northwest Corridor Express Lanes for well over a year, enjoy
ing greatly reduced travel times and speed limits during rush hour
up by an average of 20 mph even in the general purpose lanes. Ex
press bus transit is currently in use in those and all express lanes as
it will be on the 1-285 Express Lanes.”
Transit was a common theme of the contest, with gondolas and
dedicated bus lanes among the options.
One proposal called for tolling all exit ramps and using the money to fund MARTA. “Is it
legal? Maybe. It is contentious? Certainly,” mused that proposal.
“Atlanta’s Forest Ring” envisioned the Perimeter's lanes - narrowed thanks to the as
sumed precision driving of future autonomous vehicles — separated by grass and trees.
The “HydroLoop ATL” would place a multilane waterway along the Perimeter, including
that lazy river, speedboat lanes and a “recycling chute”; it also proposes a riverfront hotel in
Dunwoody and a year-round version of Sandy Springs’ Artsapalooza festival.
SPECIAL
A monorail was among the concept in the 1-285 contest.
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