Atlanta's Tough Spot for Cyclists

Summer has finally reached Atlanta, so this past Sunday we chose a shady route in the North-East part of the city. Unfortunately, this required crossing Interstate 85 and most of the choices are poor.



The purple route at the top center is where we were trying to get to. On Sunday we tried avoiding the intersection of the purple route and I-85. We approached from the West. Once we were at the shady spot (directly north), we couldn't bring ourselves to backtrack and ended up using the route from the top center to cross the interstate.

I think next time, we'll cross I-85 at the beginning of the ride and use the southern-most crossing shown on the way back like we usually do.

One thing worth pointing out is the planned crossing of the interstate where the railroad tracks cross I-85. This is the much-publicized BeltLine. The image below is from that site.