Joeventures

Biking from Downtown to Decatur

I rode the bike from Downtown to Decatur this morning. The route: from Underground Atlanta, took Central Ave to Edgewood. Edgewood dead ends into the Inman Park MARTA station. I used the PATH to go from there to Euclid. Euclid becomes McLendon. Up and down some hills I go. At a roundabout, I veer to the right, and that gets me to the PATH along DeKalb Ave, which becomes W Howard. Turn from W Howard onto Commerce, to Ponce for a block, then I’m at the office in the 315 building.

A few thoughts along the way:

• Central Ave goes downhill as it leads to Ga State. I speed up, the cars slow down. It’s one of the few blocks anywhere where I have a clear advantage. People slow down and drive very carefully along that one block of Central Ave.
• The bicycle lane along Edgewood is awesome, among the best in the region… if you can get to it. The lane doesn’t start until you get to Boulevard. Until then, I’m cycling uphill in the middle of the only available lane of traffic.
• Sanitation workers are just doing their job, and will block your way to get the job done.
• The PATH route that goes through Inman Park needs serious upkeep. Low tree branches and a dirty ground make for hazardous conditions.
• The one directional sign along the Inman Park section of the PATH route is awfully confusing. Go right to head toward Ponce and the Jimmy Carter Library. There’s a second split right after the sign, but it’s not entirely clear the sign is telling you to turn right at the split you just took, or the second split. In any case, the sign by itself is not helpful because there are more turns to take along the way, but no more signs.
• It would make sense to me to give DeKalb Ave a road diet. Instead of reversable lanes, extend the bicycle lanes all the way through downtown Atlanta, even as the road changes names several times (W Howard, DeKalb Ave, Decatur St, Marietta St).
• Instead of just taking Decatur St/DeKalb Ave all the way to Decatur, the officially designated PATH route took me the way I went. McLendon is much more hilly, as far as I can tell. Thanks, PATH people. At least I got that little bit of extra exercise in for the day.
• God forbid I might want to turn from W Howard onto Commerce Dr using a bike. Or that I might want to cross W Howard at Commerce for any other reason. There’s no curb cut there of any kind. Maybe that’s just a sign of what certain people think of the people who live in Wilson Terrace and Swanton Heights?