State Seeks To Shut Down Street By Capitol For Good
The final decision of whether or not to permanently close Mitchell Street near the state Capitol will ultimately be up to the city, which continues to own the street.
The state could finally get something it’s wanted for decades. A resolution moving through the Georgia Legislature calls for the permanent closure of Mitchell Street next to the Capitol.
But some Atlanta residents are questioning the idea.
The city already agreed to close Mitchell Street temporarily for the three months of the legislative session.
Downtown resident Kyle Kessler stands at Washington and Mitchell streets facing the new barrier with the Capitol in the background.
“Right now there are some temporary barricades that are up and a state patrol car with its lights flashing,” he said.
Kessler gets the concern behind the closure. There are a lot of pedestrians during this time. Lawmakers run back and forth between the capitol and their offices.
But he said closing the street all year is not a good solution.
He points out buses needing to reroute because of the change. Meanwhile, drivers turning off Mitchell Street before the barricade speed down Washington Street to get around.
“There are definitely other ways to get folks across the street than to shut it down to all traffic,” Kessler said.
He said those include crossing guards. Another idea is to convert one-way streets to two-way, which Kessler said would slow drivers down.
Steve Stancil, who is executive director of the Georgia Building Authority, has heard that one. But he doesn’t agree it would help.
“They may call it traffic calming,” he said. “But it’s going to be chaos is what it would be.”
Stancil said the permanent closure is necessary — and not just for pedestrians. He said it’s become a security issue. Cars could enter the street with explosives.
The temporary closure came after a driver allegedly pulled a gun on a security officer.
“If something happens, then somebody going to have blood on their hands. And it’s going to all go back to why this hadn’t been done,” Stancil said.
The state has tried to do something about Mitchell Street since 1953. That year, state legislators proposed blocking it, but faced resistance from the city.
“It is considerably more important to move traffic than to provide a lawn for the State Capitol,” a city traffic engineer told the Atlanta Constitution.
But the issue didn’t go away. It became more of a focus later on when the lawmakers pushed for an office building next to the capitol, according to Georgia State History Professor Tim Crimmins.
“Once that was open, then there was a push to tie it to the capitol,” Crimmins said.
Legislators put out plans for a bridge over the street, connecting the capitol and the offices, but that earned the opposition of preservationists. The idea of a tunnel was also floated.
With all of that history, Kessler, the downtown resident, said a solution to Mitchell Street shouldn’t be rushed.
“We’ve been thinking about this for 60 some odd years, let’s take a few days and think about it some more.”
The Senate resolution demanding the permanent street closure awaits a final vote from the Georgia House. The final decision is still up to the city, which continues to own the street.
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