Freedom Park is one of the largest

city park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and other incorporate ...

s in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The park forms a cross shape with the axes crossing at the

Carter Center The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. He and his wife Rosalynn Carter partnered with Emory University after his defeat in the 1980 United States presidential ele ...

. The park stretches west-east from Parkway Drive, just west of

Boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway or wide road in a commercial district. In Europe, boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former ...

, to the intersection with the north-south

BeltLine The Atlanta Beltline is long multi-use corridor on a former railway corridor which encircles the core of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta Beltline is designed to reconnect neighborhoods and communities historically divided and marginalized by in ...

Eastside Trail The Eastside Trail is a walking and biking trail stretching northwest to southeast on the Eastside of Atlanta, part of the Beltline ring of trails and parks. It is lined with numerous notable industrial buildings adapted into restaurants, shops, ...

, to

Candler Park Candler Park is a 55-acre (223,000 m2) city park located at 585 Candler Park Drive NE, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is named after Coca-Cola magnate Asa Griggs Candler, who donated this land to the city in 1922. The park features a ...

, and north-south from

Ponce de Leon Avenue Ponce de Leon Avenue ( ), often simply called Ponce, provides a link between Atlanta, Georgia, Atlanta, Decatur, Georgia, Decatur, Clarkston, Georgia, Clarkston, and Stone Mountain, Georgia. It was named for Ponce de Leon Springs (Atlanta), Po ...

to the Inman Park/Reynoldstown MARTA station. Freedom Parkway, rededicated John Lewis Freedom Parkway in 2018 in honor of local

U.S. Congressman The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

and

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

icon

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American civil rights activist and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

, is a four-lane

limited-access road A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, partial controlled-access highway, and expressway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which has many or most characteristics of a contro ...

. It is the westernmost portion of

Georgia State Route 10 State Route 10 (SR 10) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Georgia. It travels from Downtown Atlanta to the South Carolina state line in Augusta. This highway, along with U.S. Route 78 (US 78), connect three of the ...

(SR10). It travels through the park west-to-east from the

Downtown Connector In Downtown Atlanta, the Downtown Connector or 75/85 (pronounced "seventy-five eighty-five") is the concurrent section of Interstate 75 and Interstate 85 through the core of the city. Beginning at the I-85/ Langford Parkway interchang ...

to the Carter Center, where the main road turns north towards Ponce de Leon Avenue, with a branch continuing east towards Moreland Avenue.

History

In the 1960s, the

Georgia Department of Transportation The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is the organization in charge of developing and maintaining all state and federal roadways in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. In addition to highways, the department also has a li ...

began acquiring land for two east-side

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

s. The north-south route would have cut north from

I-20 I20, I 20 or I-20 may refer to: * Interstate 20, a highway in the southeastern United States * I-20 (form), a United States government document that provides supporting information for the issuance of a student visa or change of status * I-20 (rap ...

through Virginia-Highland, creating an

interchange Interchange may refer to: Transport * Interchange (road), a collection of ramps, exits, and entrances between two or more highways * Interchange (freight rail), the transfer of freight cars between railroad companies * Interchange station, a rai ...

I-85 Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus is an interchange with I-95 in Petersburg, Virginia, n ...

and continuing north as what is now SR400. The east-west route (part of which is now Freedom Parkway) would run east from the

(

I-75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Southeastern United States, Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end ...

/85) to the

Stone Mountain Expressway Stone Mountain Freeway is a freeway in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Georgia. It connects Interstate 285 (I-285) east of Atlanta, with the suburbs of Stone Mountain and Snellville before transitioning into an arterial road that c ...

. A

cloverleaf interchange A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange (road), interchange in which all turns are handled by slip roads. To go left (in right-hand traffic; reverse directions in left-driving regions), vehicles first continue as one road passe ...

for the two was to be atop the prominent hill where the neighborhood of

Copenhill Copenhill, Copenhill Park, or Copen Hill, was a Neighborhoods of Atlanta, neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was located largely where the Carter Center now sits, and now forms part of the Poncey-Highland neighborhood. Hist ...

was demolished, and where the

Jimmy Carter Library and Museum The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, houses U.S. President Jimmy Carter's papers and other material relating to the Carter administration and the Carter family's life. The library also hosts special exhibits, such as Carter's ...

and

now stands. The east-west portion from Downtown to Copenhill and the north south portion from Copenhill north to the I-85/SR400 interchange, was to carry the interstate number I-485. Through purchases and

eminent domain Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and t ...

, the GDOT assembled much of the central portion of the project land, and had already demolished 500 homes when local protests and lawsuits, and

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

finally stopped the project in the 1970s. That land sat vacant and overgrowing with

kudzu Kudzu (), also called Japanese arrowroot or Chinese arrowroot, is a group of climbing, coiling, and trailing deciduous perennial vines native to much of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and some Pacific islands. It is invasive species, invasive in ...

for more than 20 years. Shortly after the 1990 selection of Atlanta for the

1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Maynard Jackson Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. (March 23, 1938 – June 23, 2003) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 52nd mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, from 1974 to 1982, and again as the city's 54th mayor from 1990 to 1994. A member of the ...

brokered a solution allowing the current

parkway A parkway is a landscaped thoroughfare. The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or connecting to a park from which trucks and other heavy vehicles are excluded. Over the years, many different types of roads have been labeled p ...

to be completed out to

to the north and

Moreland Avenue Moreland may refer to: Places Australia * City of Merri-bek, previously the City of Moreland, local government area in Victoria ** Moreland railway station England * Moreland, Gloucester, an area and electoral ward United States * Mor ...

to the east. The strip of land further to the east, and land along the new parkway segment, was converted into a

linear park A linear park is a type of park that is significantly longer than it is wide. These linear parks are strips of public land running along canals, rivers, streams, defensive walls, electrical lines, or highways and Esplanade, shorelines. Examples o ...

with the help of

PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desir ...

. The 207-acre (84-hectare) Freedom Park was officially dedicated on September 19, 2000, with ribbon cutters Jimmy Carter, then-current Governor

Roy Barnes Roy Eugene Barnes (born March 11, 1948)Cook, James F. (2005). ''The Governors of Georgia, 1754-2004, 3rd Edition, Revised and Expanded.'' Macon, GA: Mercer University Press. is an American attorney and politician who served as the 80th governo ...

, and Mayor Bill Campbell. Since then it has hosted a number of outdoor

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

displays and is a popular

jogging Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase physical fitness with less stress on the body than from faster running but more than walking, or to maintain a steady speed for longer periods ...

, bike riding, and dog-walking park. With the 2012 opening of the

's busy

, which crosses the Freedom Park Trail just west of the Carter Center, the trail became connected to the large citywide BeltLine ring of parks and trails. In August 2018, "Freedom Parkway" was renamed to "John Lewis Freedom Parkway" in honor of U.S. Rep.

, a longtime (1961

Freedom Riders Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the Racial segregation in the United States, segregated Southern United States, Southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of t ...

, 1963

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (commonly known as the March on Washington or the Great March on Washington) was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to advocate for the civil and economic righ ...

, 1965

Selma to Montgomery marches The Selma to Montgomery marches were three Demonstration (protest), protest marches, held in 1965, along the highway from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery. The marches were organized by Nonviolence, nonvi ...

) leader of the civil rights movement.

Geography

left, Freedom Parkway interchange with Downtown Connector as seen from the Jackson Street bridge, a popular photo opportunity point seen in many iconic shots The main portion of John Lewis Freedom Parkway, running east from an oversized interchange with the Downtown Connector (I-75/85) and then north at the Carter Center to

( US29/ US78/ US278/ SR8), is numbered and signed as SR10. The "John Lewis Freedom Parkway East" portion running around and to the east of the Carter Center is SR42 Connector, linking it to Moreland Avenue ( US23/ SR42, and the Fulton/ DeKalb county line) just north of

Little Five Points Little Five Points (also L5P, LFP, Little Five, or Lil' Five) is a district on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, United States, east of downtown. It was established in the early 20th century as the commercial district for the adjacent I ...

. This area is considered part of Poncey-Highland, one of the

neighborhoods of Atlanta : The city of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia is made up of 243 neighborhoods officially defined by the city. These neighborhoods are a mix of traditional neighborhoods, Subdivision (land), subdivisions, or groups of subdivisions. The ...

. This portion around the Carter Center consists of two one-way streets. Eastbound, Copenhill Avenue begins as

exit ramp In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, using ...

s from SR10 northbound and southbound, then curving northward and becoming two-way as Cleburne Avenue at the northeast corner of the library property. Westbound traffic is carried along the north side on Williams Mill Road, which then becomes two-way Ralph McGill Boulevard at a surface

intersection In mathematics, the intersection of two or more objects is another object consisting of everything that is contained in all of the objects simultaneously. For example, in Euclidean geometry, when two lines in a plane are not parallel, their ...

with SR10. Freedom Parkway East continues east of North Highland Avenue as Vaud Avenue, before ending about later at Moreland. The

radio tower Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-m ...

located immediately adjacent to the road just southwest of the Carter Center is that of

WSB-TV WSB-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Cox Media Group, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to rad ...

39 (2.1/2.2). While it appears that the "

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

" the parkway travels through at this point is an unused

overpass An overpass, called an overbridge or flyover (for a road only) in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries, is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that is over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and '' underpa ...

for a never-built road, this

underpass A subway, also known as an underpass, is a grade-separated pedestrian crossing running underneath a road or railway in order to entirely separate pedestrians and cyclists from motor or train traffic. Terminology In the United States, as ...

is actually to prevent

ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

from falling onto the roadway or onto cars during or after a

winter storm A winter storm (also known as snow storm) is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In temperate continental and subarct ...

. Falling ice could occur with gusty north and northwest winds from the tower itself, but one of the tower's three sets of

guy wire A guy-wire, guy-line, guy-rope, down guy, or stay, also called simply a guy, is a tensioned cable designed to add stability to a freestanding structure. They are used commonly for ship masts, radio masts, wind turbines, utility poles, and ten ...

s also runs directly over the road.

Public art

Public art displayed along Freedom Parkway includes ''

Homage to King ''Homage to King'' is a 1996 sculpture by Barcelona artist Xavier Medina Campeny, commissioned as a gift from the Spanish host city of the 1992 Summer Olympics to the host of the 1996 Summer Olympics. It is located at the southwest corner of Fr ...

'', a 1996 sculpture by

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

artist Xavier Medina-Campeny (a gift from the Spanish host city of the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

to the host of the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

) at the corner of

, which portrays

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

with outstretched arm, welcoming those visiting the

Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park covers about 35 acres (0.14 km2) and includes several sites in Atlanta, Georgia related to the life and work of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Within the park is his boyhood ...

. ''

The Bridge The Bridge may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Art * ''The Bridge'' (sculpture), a 1997 sculpture in Atlanta, Georgia, US * Die Brücke (''The Bridge''), a group of German expressionist artists * ''The Bridge'' (M. C. Escher), a lithograph ...

'', 1997, by

Thornton Dial Thornton Dial (28 September 1928 – 25 January 2016) was a pioneering American artist who came to prominence in the late 1980s. Dial's body of work exhibits formal variety through expressive, densely composed assemblages of found materials, oft ...

, at

, portrays congressman

' "lifelong quest for civil and human rights" and the community's "valiant efforts" to stop the construction of freeways and preserve intown neighborhoods".Plaque at ''The Bridge'' in John Lewis Plaza in Freedom Park In 1984 Steve Williams started documenting th
Presidential Parkway
as the construction started resulting in a show and a model built of Freedom Park in the City Hall Atrium after the compromise was reached in 1991. This show was supported by a grant by the City of Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs and the Dept of Planning. More grants were awarded to support the work and other events were covered in the park such a
Art in Freedom Park
in 2005, a summer long arts festival of sculpture, music and performance an
Naked Freedom
2003–2006 a naked frolic in the park. Other art created for the park i
Decade: 1992 and 2002
are a series of photographs, with the original model of the park, sponsored by Don Bender showing the change of the land from 1992 to 2002 on display in the Point Center Building in Little 5 Points
Decades:1992, 2002, 2012
is currently on display throughout Freedom Park showing the change from 1992 to present day at the site they were taken.

References

External links

Freedom Park Conservancy

Freedom Park Virtual Tour
{{Coord, 33.765077, -84.358338, type:landmark, display=title Parks in Atlanta Roads in Atlanta PATH Foundation Linear parks Druid Hills, Georgia Old Fourth Ward