North Avenue

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The Varsity on North Avenue in Midtown Atlanta

North Avenue in Atlanta is a major street dividing downtown Atlanta from Midtown. It stretches continuously from Candler Park in the east to Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard southwest of Georgia Tech, passing through the Atlanta neighborhoods Poncey-Highland, Old Fourth Ward, and Midtown. The western part of this carries U.S. 29, U.S. 78, and U.S. 278, but on the eastern part those routes run a block or two north on Ponce de Leon Avenue.

Notable landmarks along North Avenue include the Bank of America Plaza, The Varsity, Georgia Tech and Tech Tower, and the world headquarters for Coca-Cola. Georgia Tech is sometimes jokingly referred to as the "North Avenue Trade School" in reference to this street, the largest thoroughfare near its original center.^[1] North Avenue is also a MARTA rapid transit subway station on the combined North/Northeast line.

History

This ramrod-straight street followed the lines between land lots in the city, and was very close to the original northern city limit. The first section was between land lots 50 and 49 west of West Peachtree and 47 and 48 to the east and the road was extended to the east, stopping at the railroad tracks near today's City Hall East (the former Sears building), and the DuPre Excelsior Mill (now The Masquerade). In the 1930s, a tunnel was dug under the tracks and the road was continued all the way to Candler Park. These tracks are now expected to be reused as part of the Belt Line.

When Richard Peters was laying out streets on the two land lots he owned (49 and 48), he counted North and Ponce de Leon as first and second streets north, continuing with 3rd Street. Despite this, the "zero" east/west street which divides the northern and southern sides of the city (and, as county seat, most or all of the rest of the county of Fulton) for street addressing purposes is Edgewood Avenue, several blocks further south.

References

v · d · eMajor Roads in Metro Atlanta
Interstates and Freeways
	Interstate 75 | Northwest Expressway | Southeast Expressway		Downtown Connector		Interstate 20 | R.D. Abernathy Freeway | West Expressway | East Expressway
	Interstate 85 | Northeast Expressway | Southwest Expressway		The Perimeter		Stone Mountain Freeway
	Interstate 575		Georgia 400		University Parkway
	Interstate 675		Freedom Parkway		Buford Highway | Old 85
	Lanier Parkway		Langford Parkway		Ronald Reagan Parkway
	South Fulton Parkway		Peachtree Industrial Boulevard
Major Throughfares
	Peachtree Street | Peachtree Road | Peachtree Industrial Boulevard | Roswell Road		Ponce de Leon Avenue | North Avenue | D.L. Hollowell Parkway		Cobb Parkway | Northside Drive | Metropolitan Parkway | Tara Boulevard
	Memorial Drive		Piedmont Avenue | Piedmont Road		West Paces Ferry Road
	Buford Highway		Lawrenceville Highway		Sugarloaf Parkway
Unbuilt expressways
	Interstate 485		Outer Perimeter | Northern Arc		Interstate 420