Phase I Archaeological Survey of the Proposed Peachtree S1reet Bridges Enhancements, Fulton County, Georgia

This project consists of enhancements to two bridges along Peachtree Street in Downtown and Midtown Atlanta. The first bridge crosses over Interstate (1)-75/1-85) in Downtown Atlanta, and the second bridge crosses over 1-85 in Midtown Atlanta. The enhancements to each bridge will consist of new aesthetic steel arches, aesthetic fencing, cladding and facade elements, aesthetic "Peachtree Street" lettering to identify the bridges to motorists traveling on the interstate and aesthetic lighting elements.

The existing typical section at the Downtown site consists of three 11-foot northbound travel lanes, two 11-foot southbound travel lanes, one 11-foot southbound left-tum lane (six lanes total) with 10-foot sidewalks in each direction (86 feet total). The proposed typical section at the Downtown site consists of one 11-foot travel lane and one 10-foot travel lane in each direction (four lanes total), 7.5-foot buffered bike lanes in each direction and 14.5-foot shoulders with sidewalks and raised parapets in each direction (86 feet total). Restriping of Peachtree Street to accommodate the reduction of travel lanes and installation of the buffered bicycle lanes will be completed by a separate City of Atlanta project prior to construction of the bridge enhancement project. The new interior raised parapets supporting the aesthetic steel arches at the Downtown site will be constructed so that the face of parapets match the outside edge of the bicycle lanes installed by the City.

The existing typical section at the Midtown site consists of three 12-foot northbound travel lanes, three 12-foot southbound travel lanes, one 16-foot two-way left turn lane (seven lanes total), 9-foot northbound sidewalk and 12-foot southbound sidewalk (109 feet total). The proposed typical section at the Midtown site consists of three 11-foot northbound travel lanes, one 14-foot northbound left turn lane, three 11-foot southbound travel lanes (seven lanes total), and 14.5-foot shoulders with sidewalks and raised parapets in each direction (109 feet total).

The project will also involve minor sidewalk modifications along the Peachtree Street roadway approaches at each bridge site to transition the widened bridge shoulders back to existing sidewalks immediately north and south of the bridges. The roadway approaches along Peachtree Street at the Midtown site will be restriped in order to transition the narrowed lanes on the bridge to the existing lane widths north and south of the bridge. The project will not result in the reduction of vehicle lane capacity along Peachtree Street because lane modifications at the Downtown site will be completed by the City of Atlanta prior to construction of the bridge enhancements.