Comments on: Morning Metro: When Sycamore was a Street, Black Bears, and the Future of Punctuation

By: Udog

Udog — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:12:16 +0000

Sycamore was two-way with parking on one side only. What is interesting about the photo is that it really has nothing to do with the design of the MARTA station. The station design probably wasn’t completed at the time and construction on the East Line didn’t start until 1975. The markings on the street are an outline of the 1972 Central Business District Development Plan and a plan by Muldawer & Associates for the redevelopment of the Square. The clues are the markings that show a mall, a fountain and cascade, and the corner note that shows the expansion of the DeKalb County courthouse. The plan at the time showed all of those features. The fountain and cascade followed the centerline of North McDonough from the mall over the transit station to the new City Hall commission chamber, located in the middle of North McDonough in front of the existing City Hall. I don’t know this for sure, but I bet Mayor Bill Breen, an architect, was behind the markings on the pavement as a way to explain the plan to the residents of Decatur.

By: altmod

altmod — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:32:36 +0000

By: Labdad

Labdad — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:39:14 +0000

All traffic moved around the square one-way counterclockwise. If you went north on McDonough to the square, and went all the way around, you could go west on Sycamore.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:40:55 +0000

That striping looks temporary, as though they’d already started adjusting traffic in advance of construction. If you look at the upper left, though, you’ll see a little triangular traffic island. Beyond that, looks like Sycamore is operating as 2-way and westbound traffic is diverted around the square.

By: Decatur Metro

Decatur Metro — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:32:15 +0000

Question stemming from the GSU photo linked to above: was Sycamore a one-way street in 1972?