Photos: How Decatur drag strip’s Complete Streets redo is turning outJosh GreenMon, 03/23/2026 - 15:46In the works for nearly a decade, Decatur’s push to transform a main corridor from a high-speed route for motorists into a calmer, more people-friendly Complete Street is almost finished. Work kicked off in August on the roughly one-mile West Howard Avenue Cycle Track and Traffic Calming Improvements project between the southern fringes of Downtown Decatur and Atlanta’s city limits. Today, sidewalks, infrastructure, and repaving upgrades stretch from Commerce Drive (near Decatur High School) to the city’s western limits at Paden Circle (along the northern edge of East Lake MARTA station). The project includes a two-way cycle track with concrete barriers for most of the route. Josh Green/Urbanize AtlantaDecatur’s much loved, admonished, and/or ridiculed planter boxes, as shown in greener days. Josh Green/Urbanize AtlantaFor better or worse (probably the former), the West Howard Avenue project ended the tenure of Decatur’s colorful—and infamously shabby—plastic street planters. The divisive, temporary traffic-calming measure gained enough notoriety to influence elections and grace T-shirts, bumper stickers, and yard signs around Decatur, especially during pandemic years. Decatur’s Complete Street conversion builds on the 2017 Reimagine West Howard Avenue planning initiative, which established a goal of permanently remaking the four-lane thoroughfare into an inviting, two-lane neighborhood street. The intent was to slow vehicle speeds and boost safety for bicyclists, pedestrians, and anyone else not traveling by car. Looking west toward downtown Atlanta, where the West Howard Avenue Cycle Track and Traffic Calming Improvements project begins today, next to MARTA’s East Lake station. Josh Green/Urbanize AtlantaView of planned West Howard Avenue changes, with plantings, looking east toward Downtown Decatur. City of Decatur/AtkinsRéalis Group Inc.According to City of Decatur officials, plans under a separate landscaping contract will aim to transform West Howard Avenue into a “beautiful, park-like corridor” once all construction wraps. Those plans call for installing canopy trees and native pollinator plants in medians, along with additional shade trees alongside the existing PATH trail in the area.  The contract for the $1.87 million project—funded by Decatur’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST I)—went to Marietta-based Blount Construction Company. The scope also included repaving West Howard Avenue. Head up to the gallery for more context, a photo tour of the West Howard Avenue project, and a quick look-back at the colorful planters that seriously happened there. (Those boxes were removed and auctioned off last year, for as much as $175 per planter.)New protected bike lanes (with plantings in medians TBD) next to the PATH Foundation’s trail between Stone Mountain and downtown Atlanta. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta**…**Follow us on social media:Twitter / Facebook/and now: Instagram  • Decatur news, discussion (Urbanize Atlanta)TagsPlanter boxesStreet plantersCity of DecaturStreet FurnitureWest Howard StreetDeKalb AvenueAlta Planning and DesignOakhurstLandis Evans + PartnersAtlanta AvenueReimagine West HowardPATH FoundationWest Howard Avenue Cycle TrackAtkinsRéalis Group Inc.Blount Construction CompanyDecatur Special Purpose Local Option Sales TaxDecatur SPLOSTWest Howard AvenueCommerce DriveAtlanta Complete StreetsDecatur ConstructionImagesExtent of the roughly one-mile project, spanning from the Atlanta/Decatur line in the west (at left) to the doorstep of Decatur High School. City of Decatur/Landis Evans + PartnersView of planned West Howard Avenue changes, with plantings, looking east toward Downtown Decatur. City of Decatur/AtkinsRéalis Group Inc.Decatur’s much loved, admonished, and/or ridiculed planter boxes, as shown in greener days. Josh Green/Urbanize AtlantaLooking west toward downtown Atlanta, where the West Howard Avenue Cycle Track and Traffic Calming Improvements project begins today, next to MARTA’s East Lake station. Josh Green/Urbanize AtlantaHeading east on the new cycle track, toward Downtown Decatur. Josh Green/Urbanize AtlantaJosh Green/Urbanize AtlantaNew protected bike lanes (with plantings in medians TBD) next to the PATH Foundation’s trail between Stone Mountain and downtown Atlanta. Josh Green/Urbanize AtlantaJosh Green/Urbanize AtlantaJosh Green/Urbanize AtlantaGap in protected bike lanes at Atlanta Avenue. Josh Green/Urbanize AtlantaJosh Green/Urbanize AtlantaJosh Green/Urbanize AtlantaJosh Green/Urbanize AtlantaJosh Green/Urbanize AtlantaWhere the West Howard Avenue project ends at Commerce Drive, near Decatur High School. Josh Green/Urbanize AtlantaSubtitleRest In Peace, planter boxesNeighborhoodDecaturBackground ImageImageBefore/After ImagesSponsored PostOff

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