Central Atlanta Progress Wants To Cap The Downtown Connector

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An illustrative plan of The Stitch.

A new project could heal the 50-year-old gash cut through the heart of Atlanta by interstate highways. The idea? Build a platform over the Downtown Connector and turn exhaust-filled airspace into greenspace-anchored development.

The concept, called The Stitch, would reconnect downtown and midtown Atlanta with a three-quarter mile cap over I-75/I-85 that would stretch from a revamped Civic Center MARTA station to Piedmont Avenue.

“Greenspace is very important to the live, work, and play environment that people want to live in today,” said A.J. Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress (CAP), the nonprofit community development group behind the plan.

Robinson said he hoped the project would also get the attention of developers looking to build in the city and that the $300 million price tag for the project would spur growth in the area. CAP estimates the economic impact could total more than $1 billion.

“We can both have this unbelievable network of highways that meets in Downtown Atlanta, but also have an experience for the people who are either getting off the freeway or are living and working in the area at the same time,” Robinson said.

The Stitch gets its inspiration from projects like Klyde Warren Park in Dallas and the “Big Dig” in Boston, which reimagined how highways in those cities fit into the urban landscape.

It’s not the first time someone has proposed capping the Connector. The idea has floated around informally for years, and, just last year, the Midtown Alliance incorporated the concept into their planning blueprint.

But Robinson said he’s optimistic the idea will become a reality this time around in some shape or form.

He cited to the growing popularity of urban living and pointed to a number of other projects in the area, like the redevelopment of the Atlanta Civic Center, that will bring attention to the area.

“You have some large potential investments occurring around here in the next five years that have nothing to do with this project but would benefit and capitalize this project,” Robinson said.

For now, though, the concept is just that. CAP says a feasibility study and more concrete plans are forthcoming.

Check out the full concept plan below.