Viaducts of Atlanta

The Viaducts of Atlanta were mainly created in the 1920s to bridge numerous level crossings of roads and railroads.

Atlanta being founded as a railroad city and ending up with at least six major lines entering the city, there were many places where human traffic encountered that on the rails. The first viaduct was just the Broad St. bridge which was rebuilt several times, the second wooden version designed by Lemuel Grant in 1865^[1] but longer viaducts were coming.

Downtown viaducts

• Mitchell Street (1899) which crosses the Central of Georgia Railroad tracks^[2]
• Peachtree Street (opened October 9, 1901) at a cost of $76,662.38.^[3] Rebuilt (opened October 1, 2007) at a cost of $6.7 million^[4]
• Washington Street (1909) which crosses the Central of Georgia Railroad tracks^[5]
• Spring Street (opened December 20, 1923) – 1,900 feet (580 m).^[6] Southern half rebuilt (1996), northern half being rebuilt (2014-2015).
• Pryor Street (1929) – 1,291 feet (393 m)
• Central Avenue viaduct (1929) – 1,174 feet (358 m)
• Hunter Street lateral – 914 feet (279 m)
• Alabama Street lateral – 776 feet (237 m)
• Wall Street lateral – 695 feet (212 m)^[7]

Other viaducts

In January 1913, the Bellwood Viaduct was opened, allowing car and foot traffic to cross the railroad line parallel to Marietta Street to the west side of the city via Bellwood avenue (now Donald Lee Hollowell Pkwy.).^[8]

References

• Garrett, Franklin, Atlanta and Its Environs, 1954, University of Georgia Press.
• Hoffman, Phillip, "Creating Underground Atlanta, 1898-1932", Atlanta Historical Bulletin, Vol. XIII, No. 3, 1968

Notes

1. Galloway, Tammy H. "Lemuel Grant (1817-1893)." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 10 January 2014. Web. 26 February 2015.
2. Garrett, Vol.II, p.388-389
3. Garrett, Vol.II, p.409
4. A detour no more. Atlanta Journal-Constitution September 29, 2007.
5. Garrett, Vol.II, p.306
6. Hoffman, p.61
7. Garrett, Vol.II, p.849
8. "First trip made across viaduct", Atlanta Constitution, January 24, 1913, p,5