Buckhead (Atlanta) - Transportation

Transportation

The main north-south street of Buckhead is Peachtree Road, which extends south into the heart of the city as Peachtree Street, Atlanta's main street. This name change is significant in that it defines a border between Buckhead and Midtown. The main east-west street is Paces Ferry Road, named for a former ferry used to cross the Chattahoochee River. Hardy Pace, one of Atlanta's founders, operated the ferry and owned much of what is now Buckhead. In addition to Peachtree and West Paces Ferry Roads, other arterial roads include Piedmont Road (Georgia 237), Roswell Road (Georgia State Route 9), and Northside Parkway.

In the early 1990s, after a bitter fight against GDOT by residents, Buckhead was split in two by Georgia 400, a tolled extension of a freeway connecting I-285 to I-85. However, MARTA's new north line was put in the highway's median, providing mass transit for Buckhead and Sandy Springs residents.

MARTA operates three stations in Buckhead, the southernmost being Lindbergh Center. Just north of there, the original northeast (orange) and later north (red) lines split, with Lenox at the southwest corner of the Lenox Square parking lot, and Buckhead on the west side of the malls where Peachtree crosses 400. A free circulator bus called "the buc" (Buckhead Uptown Connection) stops at all three stations. The proposed Peachtree Streetcar project would provide street-level service with frequent stops all the way to downtown Atlanta, complementing the existing subway-type MARTA train service.