The Connect Athens steering committees will host their first round of public visioning workshops for Atlanta Highway and Lexington Road on Wednesday, August 29 (Lexington Road) and Thursday, August 30 (Atlanta Highway). Each meeting will take place from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Athens-Clarke County Dougherty Street Government Building Planning Auditorium at 120 West Dougherty Street. 

The workshops are open to the public and will combine information about the process with an interactive mapping activity to determine preliminary opportunities for the two corridors being studied. The steering committees encourage the public to register for the workshops on the process website, www.connect-athens.org. Registration is not required, but is requested to help the Planning Team prepare for the events.

The visioning meetings are scheduled for:

• Lexington Road Visioning Workshop

  Wednesday, August 29 - 6:00-8:00 p.m.

  Athens-Clarke County Planning Department Auditorium

  120 W. Dougherty Street, Athens, GA 30601

• Atlanta Highway Visioning Workshop

  Thursday, August 30 - 6:00-8:00 p.m.

  Athens-Clarke County Planning Department Auditorium

  120 W. Dougherty Street, Athens, GA 30601

The Connect Athens process will develop unique corridor plans for both Atlanta Highway and Lexington Road. The process was initiated through the Athens-Clarke County Planning Department and is being led by committees specific to each corridor.

The corridors are each a gateway into Athens and handle thousands of cars daily. These studies will analyze overall mobility conditions for the roads, while also considering conditions and trends outside the right-of-way in terms of land use, housing, and other topics. The process is a unique opportunity to think creatively about the future of the areas and develop logical strategies to improve their efficiency and quality of place.

"The Connect Athens workshops are a unique opportunity to think big about the future of two major thoroughfares in our community," says Gavin Hassemer, Planner for the Athens-Clarke County Planning Department. "These are critical paths both in terms of mobility and perception. To craft a plan that is representative, it is important that everyone engages in the process to ensure their ideas are shared and captured."

Each corridor’s planning process is being led by a 12-member steering committee made up of stakeholders and community representatives. A planning team, led by outside consultants Kimley Horn and assisted by Planning NEXT and Ninigret Partners, will facilitate the process and conduct technical analyses. Each planning process is unique, but the team’s intent is to maximize efficiencies of the parallel processes.

Following the meetings, the planning team will work with the steering committees to develop an over-arching vision for each corridor and begin to suggest specific action recommendations that emerge from community input and critical evaluation of strategic opportunities. The process will continue through 2018 and include additional opportunities for community engagement. The plans will be finalized in the spring of 2019 and presented to the Mayor and Commission for approval.