North Avenue (Atlanta)

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North Avenue is a major avenue in Atlanta, Georgia that divides Downtown Atlanta from Midtown Atlanta. North Avenue stretches continuously in Atlanta from Candler Park in the east, across Interstate 75 & Interstate 85, along the southern boundary of the Georgia Institute of Technology, to Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard (formerly Ashby Avenue) just southwest of Georgia Tech, where it ends. North Avenue passes through the neighborhoods of Poncey-Highland, Old Fourth Ward, and Midtown Atlanta.

North Avenue was named at least 150 years ago and was built along the northern city limits of a young Atlanta. For decades, huge portions of both Atlanta itself and Metro Atlanta have been built north of North Avenue, and also beyond the eastern and western ends of North Avenue.

The western half of North Avenue carries U.S. Highway 29, U.S. 78, and U.S. 278, but the eastern parts of those highways follow Ponce de Leon Avenue, just one city block north of North Avenue. Eastbound lanes cross over on northbound-only Piedmont Avenue, westbound lanes one block west on southbound-only Juniper Street, which continues south as Courtland Street. These are the two blocks east of Peachtree Street, Atlanta's main north/south street and the division between the eastern and western quadrants of the city.

Further east, North Avenue crosses the northern branch of Freedom Parkway just south of where it ends at Ponce, then Highland Avenue, and then Moreland Avenue where it crosses the Fulton/DeKalb county line, one block north of the end of the eastern branch of Freedom Parkway. East of here, it loses its middle turn lane and all of the homes on the south side of the street, which were destroyed by the Georgia Department of Transportation in anticipation of the never-built section of the Stone Mountain Freeway. The road ends at Candler Park, with Candler Park Drive going only south and no roads to the north or east.

Notable landmarks along North Avenue include the Bank of America Plaza, The Varsity, the Georgia Institute of Technology, the high-rise headquarters of BellSouth Telecommunications, the historic DuPre Excelsior Mill (formerly The Masquerade concert venue, now relocated), and the high-rise world headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company. The basement of the telephone company building contains the North Avenue MARTA station, which is a station of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority rapid transit system along its main north/south Red & Gold lines. This MARTA station is the closest one to Georgia Tech, and it is a moderate walk between the two.

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]