Hidden beneath the city’s maze of intertwining highways is the prevalence of bicycles in Atlanta. While the city has a reputation for its congested traffic and nightmarish drivers, biking has risen as a popular way to travel within city borders and even into neighboring cities. Biking has been proven to be beneficial for not only the environment, but also the economy, city accessibility, and general health of residents. Due to this, further integrating biking into the city continues to be an effort for Atlanta.
Atlanta’s first biking club, then called a velocipede club, was founded in 1869. Velocipedes were a general term used to encompass any vehicle with one or more wheels, and the term “bicycle” wasn’t created until later to describe a specific subset of velocipedes with just two wheels. Initially, biking was an exclusive activity; an article from 1869 describes the velocipede club as an organization composed of “men of weight and standing.” Rather than being perceived as a mode of transportation, biking was a hobby specifically reserved for the wealthy.
However, the tides had shifted by the 1890s, following the segregation of streetcars. As streetcars no longer became accessible to African Americans, bikes became a popular form of transportation for Black Atlantans who were boycotting public transportation. Through their resistance, the social perception of the bicycle transformed from a leisurely activity for the privileged upper class to a practical mode of transportation within the city. Ironically, biking took on a new meaning of equality in the Civil Rights Movement, and within two decades, bicycles had massively transformed from a symbol of exclusivity to equal accessibility.
While Black Atlantans continued to rely on bikes for their transportation, privately owned automobiles saw a boom in popularity from the 1900s to the 1930s. Those who were wealthy could afford to ride the wave of automobiles and purchase the privilege of increased accessibility. With the ability to independently access the city at any time, white Americans chose to move out of the city and into the suburbs. The focus of infrastructure in Atlanta shifted with this trend, leading to a greater focus on building highways and roads. This shift consequently abandoned the needs of those who were still dependent on walking, biking, and public transportation.
The issue of improving biking in Atlanta is greater than creating safer roads. It is symbolic for creating greater accessibility for the underprivileged. One of the most prominent efforts in stitching together the city, separated by a lifelong legacy of discrimination and segregation, is the Atlanta BeltLine. Before its current presence as a 22-mile gem of Atlanta, the BeltLine began as a mere proposal from a Georgia Tech graduate student, Ryan Gravel. In his graduate thesis, Gravel raised awareness of the unequal distribution of infrastructure and resources in Atlanta, mainly centered in historically white neighborhoods and Downtown Atlanta. He argued for a BeltLine consisting of walkable trails and transit systems that connect the different neighborhoods of Atlanta, from wealthy areas to underprivileged districts.
Now, the BeltLine loops around Atlanta in miles of connected trails with the two most prominent trails being the Eastside and Westside trails. According to the 2020 BeltLine Trail Counter Report, the most popular counters on the Eastside Trail averaged about 5000 people per day, and more than a quarter of them were cyclists.
Along with the growing accessibility of bikeable trails and paths in Atlanta, the act of biking itself has also become easier through the use of electric bikes, or e-bikes. These come with an electric motor that assists in pedaling, making it possible for cyclists to travel further and faster with less effort. While e-bikes would certainly make it easier to navigate the rolling hills of Atlanta, they are unfortunately not easy to acquire.
Local cyclist Emilio Lachica expressed the difficulty in owning an e-bike: “I do not use an e-bike because, oh my lord, it’s a pricey purchase, but I totally would because it’s such an efficient and fast means of transportation … it seems really fun to ride and super duper convenient.”
The irony of a significant price tag attached to a bicycle meant to increase biking convenience and accessibility has not gone unnoticed by the state. To combat this problem, earlier this year the Atlanta City Council made active efforts to increase e-bike accessibility. In January 2023, a rebate program was proposed, which would allow people to be reimbursed or receive tax incentives for their e-bike purchase. As an income-based rebate program, the rebates would allow lower-income individuals to be reimbursed the most for purchasing an e-bike.
Additionally, with the rising popularity of biking, safety has been brought to attention as a primary issue, especially for areas outside of the BeltLine where cars remain the primary mode of transportation. In 2018, 40 bicycle accidents occurred in the City of Atlanta, two of which were fatal. When observing the areas in which accidents are most densely clustered, the common factor is the high density of traffic combined with the lack of bike lane protection.
Lachica, who cycles daily through Midtown and the Georgia Tech campus, states that even his short commute to campus is not fully satisfactory: “I use bike lanes and roads, but I wish there were more and safer bike lanes … they are somewhat sketchy.”
Currently, bike infrastructure is categorized by the City of Atlanta into three levels of protection: low, medium, and high. “Low protection infrastructure” refers to roads that have no bike lanes, which force cyclists to bike in the same lane as cars, or roads which have bike lanes that are faintly or unclearly marked. Roads with medium protection are classified as those with clear bike lane markings but no physical barrier that separates the bicyclists from cars. Infrastructure with high protection is most commonly found in areas like the BeltLine, where there is a distinct sidewalk for cyclists and pedestrians, and it is also found on roads with poles that protect cars from swerving into the bike lane.
Even in the most walkable parts of Atlanta, like Midtown, the infrastructure of the roads puts the safety of bikers at risk.
“They could definitely provide more separation between the cars and the bikes. Maybe more people would bike also if they had better systems in place,” said Lachica.
Voices from cyclists demanding more safety have made bike infrastructure a greater priority for local policymakers. National coalitions like the National Complete Street Coalition aim to design streets that are safe for all users, including drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. They consider the unique context and needs of each street they work on, adding features like stop lights, roundabouts, and curbs. There are multiple complete street projects underway in Atlanta to build bike lanes and sidewalks, including Howell Mill Road and Piedmont Avenue. Many of these projects are in procurement stages and are expected to finish within the next two to three years, and it is expected that more projects will be proposed before current ones finish.
Organizations like Propel have also been working to maintain light individual transportation lanes. These lanes fall under high protection infrastructure, featuring concrete posts and bollards that help prevent bicyclists and cars from crashing into one another. In 2023, Propel advocated for the City of Atlanta to decrease the budget cut to the Atlanta Department of Transportation. While the effort to decrease the budget cut was unsuccessful, Propel was able to adopt $12 million in additional funding for the transportation department, and in 2024, they plan to continue their efforts in raising the budget of the Atlanta Department of Transportation, which would increase funding for LIT lanes and other bicycle safety efforts.
Lachica notes that despite needing more improvement, the “biking culture is pretty strong” in Atlanta. Its future continues to look bright as continuous effort and activism is brought to attention by policymakers, cyclists, and social activists alike. One day, Lachica hopes that bike rides throughout the entirety of Atlanta will be “more accessible with better infrastructure or … a free city bike system.”
