Ponce de Leon Avenue

Ponce de Leon Avenue provides a link between Atlanta, Decatur, Clarkston, and Stone Mountain, Georgia. It was named for Ponce de Leon Springs, in turn from explorer Ponce de Leon, but is not pronounced with a Spanish-language accent. It is often called simply "Ponce".

It begins at Spring Street at the south edge of midtown Atlanta, though it may have originally started a block further west at Williams Street (across from Georgia Tech, one block east of Bobby Dodd Stadium) prior to the construction of the Downtown Connector. It passes West Peachtree Street and then Peachtree Street, the city block which has the BellSouth Building (now AT&T) and the historic Fox Theatre on the north side of the street. At the next two intersections, it takes multiple numbered routes from North Avenue, which runs one block to the south and forms the boundary between midtown and downtown Atlanta. Via one-way Juniper Street southbound and Piedmont Avenue (Georgia 237) northbound, it gets U.S. 29 north, U.S. 78 east, U.S. 278 east, and Georgia 8 east.

After drifting toward the east-northeast, it passes Boulevard (which continues north as Monroe Drive), and after Glen Iris Drive it passes the north side of the old Sears building, which was used as City Hall East and is awaiting redevelopment as Ponce City Market. That building is slated for renovation and redevelopment, as is the rail track on its east side, which will be a part of the BeltLine. After the now-redeveloped Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant on the opposite side of the tracks, it passes the Clermont Lounge and then the north end of Freedom Parkway, where it also picks-up Georgia 10 east. A few blocks further east, it crosses North Highland Avenue by the historic Plaza Theatre, at the intersection which caused the surrounding Atlanta neighborhood to be named Poncey-Highland.

After crossing the intersection of Georgia 42 (Moreland Avenue south and Briarcliff Road north), it gets a sixth route number: U.S. 23 north. Although still within Atlanta city limits, it also crosses the county line from Fulton into DeKalb at this street. The road begins to gradually curve back and forth, and is followed on its south side by South Ponce de Leon Avenue, the land between them being Oak Grove Park. A second segment of linear park is called Dellwood Park, and around Clifton Road it finally leaves the city, just before passing the south side of the Fernbank Museum of Natural History. A third segment called North Ponce de Leon Avenue surrounds a heavily forested county park called Deepdene Park^[1], and on its south side, mainline Ponce de Leon Avenue loses U.S. 278 and Georgia 10 at a split with East Lake Road.

After a northward curve, it loses its other four route numbers at a split with Scott Road, and continues eastward into the city of Decatur as West Ponce de Leon Avenue. Crossing the centerpoint of downtown at Clairemont Avenue (north) and McDonough Street (south), near city hall and the Decatur MARTA station, it becomes East Ponce de Leon Avenue. It then continues on through Scottdale and downtown Clarkston to become Main Street southward through downtown Stone Mountain, then becoming Stone Mountain Lithonia Road on its way south to Lithonia.

It is also an exit at mile 40 off Interstate 285 ("the Perimeter") north. The only way to access I-285 south is to exit onto Church Street, since this is a split-diamond interchange, and the two roads run parallel to each other with a railroad line in between these roads.

Improvements

Ponce de Leon Avenue in the City of Atlanta is included in the Ponce/Moreland Corridors Plan as part of the city's comprehensive development plan.^[2]

As of April 2011^[update], the Georgia Department of Transportation has decided to begin the design of safety improvements for pedestrians on the two-mile stretch of Ponce between Piedmont and N. Highland/Moreland. Changes proposed include the conversion of an eastbound traffic lane into a two-way left-turn lane. The land would include intermittent traffic islands and "HAWK" pedestrian crossing signals at selected crosswalks where no traffic signals currently exist.^[3]

Major intersections

References

External Links

• City of Atlanta, Ponce de Leon / Moreland Avenue Corridors Study