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Atlantic Steel Site Redevelopment Project
Download a copy of "Transportation and Environmental Analysis of Atlantic Steel" (PDF) (36 pp, 1.1 MB, About PDF)
Atlantic Station is a $2 billion smart growth project on a 138-acre brownfield site in the heart of Midtown Atlanta, the former site of an Atlantic Steel facility.
The environmental and economic benefits of the project are numerous: clean-up of an old industrial property; separation of sanitary and storm sewer systems; reduction of auto emissions; and creation of jobs and economic development where infrastructure already exists.
The multi-use development will give residents and workers a variety of transportation benefits including short trips and the option of walking, biking or taking transit.
However, a "business-as-usual" approach would not have allowed the Atlantic Station project to move forward. The reason: For adequate access, the plan required construction of a highway bridge to connect the site to both transit and the highway; because Atlanta had not met Clean Air Act standards, the bridge (a form of highway construction) would have been prohibited under a standard interpretation of EPA regulations.
This obstacle was removed after an analysis by DCED showed that the smart growth aspects of the redevelopment would help reduce air pollution, among other environmental benefits. The analysis, coupled with EPA's use of regulatory flexibility under an innovative program called Project XL, allowed the development to proceed.
The result: shorter and fewer auto trips with fewer emissions. DCED's analytical work has been more broadly applied by EPA guidance allowing cities to take air quality credit for smart growth development.