{"194751":{"#nid":"194751","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Students See Potential in Northside Corridor","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EImagine Northside Drive and you probably see a street that you\u2019d rather steer clear of lined with dilapidated buildings and overgrown weeds \u2014 or at least that\u2019s what the students in Mike Dobbins\u2019 studio envisioned when he mentioned the street to them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAt first, they couldn\u2019t understand why I wanted us to examine Northside Drive; they said \u2018there\u2019s nothing on it,\u2019\u201d said Dobbins, a professor of practice in the School of City and Regional Planning. \u201cUntil they realized that there is.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENorthside is actually a diamond in the rough when it comes to the role it could play in improving transportation and providing development opportunities in Atlanta. The street serves as the west frame of Atlanta\u2019s downtown and midtown core, connecting Cobb County to Atlantic Station, Georgia Tech, the Georgia World Congress Center, the Georgia Dome, the Atlanta University Center, West End and points south.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNorthside should be a grand transit boulevard, a seam between east and west, not the divide that it is,\u201d Dobbins said. \u201cOur goal is to help change that.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDobbins became familiar with Northside\u2019s potential while working as commissioner of planning for the City of Atlanta from 1996 to 2002. For the studio, he partnered\u0026nbsp; with Emory McClinton, a board member of the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), to develop the studio program.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cA lot is happening in the Northside corridor,\u201d Dobbins said. \u201cThe State Road and Tollway Authority\u2019s strategically located site at 17th Street is up for sale without conditions that would serve transit connectivity. Tech is seeking to establish better programs and physical linkages with its westside neighborhoods. The multimodal passenger terminal could be built in the future. A new stadium is in play. Why wouldn\u2019t now be a good time to plan comprehensively?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo during fall semester, with funding from the GDOT, the city, the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District, Midtown Alliance and Tech, city planning and civil engineering students in Dobbins\u2019 studio took on the challenge of creating a plan for Northside Drive.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESome of the recommendations include:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ECreating a consistent well-lit, tree-lined boulevard, from I-75 to West End, that would accommodate cars, transit, bicycles and sidewalks suitable for serving a mixed- use, higher-density development future.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EEstablishing planning and zoning policies to shape the boulevard\u2019s development trajectory to support the goals of its many stakeholders, including neighborhoods and the Atlanta University Center to the west, and Atlantic Station, Tech, Midtown and Downtown to the east.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EUntangling the street\u2019s many confusing and disorienting intersections.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EIntroducing a pedestrian park and street crossings to connect Tech and Marietta Street.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EProviding bicycle, pedestrian and possible streetcar connectivity over the Means Street bridge.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003ECreating programs that link pending new developments, such as a multimodal passenger terminal or a new stadium, with tangible support for neighborhood jobs, infrastructure and other development.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EIncreasing green space.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe main purpose of the plan is for Tech to establish an active, lively face on Northside, welcoming the new development and older neighborhoods across the way.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe plan also provides suggestions on how the city, GDOT, Tech and Coca-Cola can collaborate to achieve shared goals,\u201d Dobbins added.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBefore the end of fall semester, the students shared their findings with stakeholders including the GDOT, city, other agencies, neighborhood and other civic leaders, and developers \u2014 and the stakeholders listened.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe unique thing about a student project is that there aren\u2019t the biases that can occur when an interest group initiates the research,\u201d Dobbins said. \u201cSo I think leaders are more open to suggestions.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut, Dobbins also said that people tend to underestimate what students are capable of.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt has been an interesting reaction,\u201d Dobbins said. \u201cPeople didn\u2019t think the project would be as useful as it has been in terms of providing information about what can be done.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlthough the studio is finished and the students have moved on, the project is not. Dobbins will now share the plan with the 150 people on his stakeholder list to get feedback.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERegardless of what happens next, the project has already accomplished two of Dobbins\u2019 goals: getting people who are normally suspicious of others\u2019 motives to come together in the same room and communicate, and getting the city to recognize that Northside Drive needs to be formally designated as a transit corridor.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe ultimate goal would be to have a transportation system serving emerging development patterns based on what the students are proposing,\u201d Dobbins said. \u201cThe city and GDOT would use the information in the plan to update their plans and funding priorities accordingly. We\u2019ll just have to see what happens next.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor more information, contact\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:michael.dobbins@coa.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EDobbins\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;or visit the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/c.gatech.edu\/15cn15s\u0022\u003Eproject website\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EImagine Northside Drive and you probably see a street that you\u2019d rather steer clear of lined with dilapidated buildings and overgrown weeds \u2014 or at least that\u2019s what the students in Mike Dobbins\u2019 studio envisioned when he mentioned the street to them.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27714","created_gmt":"2013-02-23 19:36:37","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:13:40","author":"Kyle James","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-02-18T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2013-02-18T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"194741":{"id":"194741","type":"image","title":"Northside Drive Corridor","body":null,"created":"1449179891","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:58:11","changed":"1475894846","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:47:26","alt":"Northside Drive Corridor","file":{"fid":"196392","name":"northside_drive.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/northside_drive_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/northside_drive_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":17762,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/northside_drive_0.jpg?itok=hkkVo88m"}}},"media_ids":["194741"],"groups":[{"id":"1224","name":"School of City \u0026 Regional Planning"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"5029","name":"michael dobbins"},{"id":"49501","name":"northside dr"},{"id":"42291","name":"northside drive"},{"id":"167507","name":"studio"},{"id":"59581","name":"transit corridor"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWritten by: \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.pavlik@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Pavlik\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}