Alleluia! The days of automobile sewers at Howell Mill Road are coming to an end

As residents of northwest Atlanta have likely noticed, the complete street overhaul of a corridor described as the “backbone” of the area is moving forward quickly. Just be prepared for growing pains, for quite a while.

Atlanta Department of Transportation officials announced this week that resurfacing activities have begun as part of the Howell Mill Road Complete Street project, which originally emerged as a Renew Atlanta bond initiative in 2015.

Median work is also underway near the point where Howell Mill Road meets Interstate 75, toward the upper end of the Complete Streets project scope.

The goal is to make it one of the most rapid development corridors that are friendlier for non-motorists, safer for drivers and overall more efficient. Neighborhood leaders called the improvements “critical” as the project’s groundbreaking ceremony approaches in December.

According to the city’s most recent update, construction of the full project could take between 24 months and three years, with nearby residents and users of Howell Mill Road experiencing “significant disruption” between now and then.

The expected completion date is winter 2026.

The Complete Streets Resurfacing Project calls for the resurfacing of Howell Mill Road, from just north of Collier Road to Marietta Street, a distance of approximately two and a half miles. Along the route, the city plans to synchronize traffic signals with improvements in fiber optic technology and build elevated bike lanes from Forrest Street (about a block north of Atlanta Water Works) to ‘at all points south along Howell Mill.

Other improvements will focus on sidewalk repairs, more mid-block crossings, ADA improvements and additional safety improvements such as bike lanes, officials said.

The Atlanta City Council approved legislation in September to fund the entire project. Construction partners P2K and Lefko Construction were selected in a joint venture as general contractors to complete the street improvements.

Howell Mill’s complete street overhaul was once scheduled to begin in 2017 — adding bike lanes, sidewalk and bus stop improvements, new pavement and new turn lanes — but was later removed from the $250 million project list dollars from Renew Atlanta. As of September, the project was still not fully funded.

This comes at a time of drastic and ongoing change across much of the corridor.

Since 2018, more than 1,100 apartments And town houses delivered to the blocks of Howell Mill between 14th and 10th Streets only, with hundreds more in progress. Star Metals Offices, a new office building, and the mixed-use district that makes up the first phase of Interlock also came together in the same neighborhood. And just this week, north of Interstate 75, developers said another 212 apartments were completed at The Howell multifamily complex.

Despite the surge in private development, the three-lane road that winds through neighborhoods such as Home Park and Marietta Street Artery has remained virtually unchanged in recent years, save for a few new crosswalks.

Find more context and images of Howell Mill Road in the gallery above. Or for Really dive into the weeds with this project, head here.

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