Frustration mounts over Cascade Road project delays, design flaws
Residents and business owners are frustrated with the Cascade Road Complete Street project due to delays and design flaws, such as road widths too narrow for fire trucks, causing extended timelines and financial harm.
Business owners report significant revenue losses due to repeated road closures, and criticize the city for offering loans instead of grants as promised support.
Community members demand transparency and accountability from city officials, emphasizing the need for the project to be completed correctly to avoid further disruptions to local traditions and businesses.
ATLANTA - More than 200 residents and business owners packed a community meeting on Tuesday night in southwest Atlanta to voice frustration over delays and disruptions caused by the Cascade Road Complete Street project. Many say the years-long effort to improve the corridor has cost them customers, revenue—and their patience.
What we know
The project spans roughly two miles along Cascade Road and Avenue from the city limits to Avon Avenue. It includes resurfacing, narrower traffic lanes to reduce speeding, upgraded traffic signals, wider sidewalks, a 10-foot shared-use path, and streetscape enhancements. Completion was initially expected this year.
But several residents and business owners say serious design flaws—such as road widths too narrow for fire trucks—have forced the city to redo portions of the work, extending the timeline and compounding frustrations.
What they're saying
"Right now, I haven't heard anybody in the community be satisfied with what's going on currently," said resident Steven Dingle during the standing-room-only meeting held at Hillside International Truth Center.
"The road was designed to be 20 feet wide, curb to curb," said community member Shea Embry. "But a fire truck is 8 to 10 feet wide. That doesn't work. And by the way, it never worked. And the fact that they didn't listen to the community early on was a failure on their part."
City officials, including Atlanta Department of Transportation Commissioner Solomon Caviness, defended the project's goals, citing the city's Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2040.
"This project includes tighter, narrower lane widths so that we can bring speeds down to 25 miles per hour," Caviness said. "This corridor is very special to the city of Atlanta, and we look forward to bringing the life back to this corridor, at least by the end of the summer."
But business owners like Lorraine Lane say the repeated road closures have done lasting financial harm.
"We lost a lot of revenue stream," Lane said. "It opened up and we thought, okay, great, we survived this. So now we're going to be okay—only to find out they're going to have to close it off again."
Lane, who co-owns Aretha's at The Point, said she's grateful for the community's support but remains deeply concerned about the future.
"We want to be here," she said. "We want to thrive, and want the community to thrive... Let's get it done."
Embry said several businesses along the corridor have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars collectively over the last year, and criticized the city's handling of promised support.
"The city came in and offered businesses, supposedly, a grant," she said. "Well, it didn't turn out to be a grant. It turned out to be a loan... That's not fair."
Some, like community organizer Yvone Christmas, worry that continued delays could jeopardize long-running local traditions. She noted that construction disrupted last year's annual Christmas and Kwanzaa parade, now in its 30th year.
"We didn't have the option to use Cascade last year, so we had to move it," Christmas said. "I don't know what to tell the schools this year... Just be honest about the deadlines."
The other side
City officials say support is available through Invest Atlanta, which provides financial assistance and resources to affected businesses. But for many residents, the bottom line remains the same: they want transparency, accountability, and for the project to be completed—correctly.
"This community has been very frustrated," Embry said. "They already told them about the problems and were just ignored."
The Source
FOX 5 spoke with those who attended Tuesday's meeting.
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