Johns Creek officials gathered outside a newly completed pedestrian tunnel beneath Medlock Bridge Road on Monday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, marking the finish of a project meant to stitch together the city's rapidly emerging Town Center district. Mayor John Bradberry joined council members Larry DiBiase and Chris Coughlin, along with city staff and contractors, to celebrate the underpass, which officials say will give walkers and bicyclists a safer, off-street way to cross one of the city's busiest roads.
The tunnel, located just north of Johns Creek Parkway, functions as a gateway connecting local destinations to the Town Center, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. City officials have not confirmed the project's total final cost, though The Roundabout reports the underpass cost approximately $7 million to build, financed through Fulton County's voter-approved Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, known as TSPLOST II. The same outlet reports the tunnel measures 124 feet long and 42 feet wide, with artificial turf flooring designed to host pop-up vendor tents and community gatherings rather than serve strictly as a walkway.
A Physical Link Between Park and Retail Corridor
The underpass connects nearby residential neighborhoods with local restaurants and retail spaces, and it links directly to The Boardwalk at Town Center on the east side of Medlock Bridge Road. That $39 million, 20-acre municipal park behind City Hall opened on May 8, with a 4,000-capacity outdoor amphitheater, elevated wetland trails, and terraced seating, per the same account from The Roundabout. On the west side, the tunnel serves as a primary pedestrian gateway to Medley, the $560 million, 43-acre mixed-use development from Toro Development Company set to open its first phase on October 29 with 200,000 square feet of retail and dining space, office space, and 900 residential units.
City leaders say the goal is to make the Town Center area more walkable and pedestrian-friendly as the surrounding blocks fill in with new development. Hoodline has previously covered Tabla's first suburban location and CT Cantina's arrival among the restaurant concepts signing on at Medley, part of a broader wave of leasing activity that includes a major corporate relocation: animal health firm Boehringer Ingelheim signed a 73,000-square-foot lease last year to move nearly 500 headquarters employees to the area, reportedly the largest new Class-A suburban office lease north of the Perimeter in nearly five years.
Who Maintains It, and Why Officials Chose a Tunnel
Maintenance responsibilities for the underpass are now split between two government agencies. Under a July intergovernmental agreement approved by the Johns Creek City Council, the Georgia Department of Transportation handles structural integrity inspections of the State Route 141 underpass, while the City of Johns Creek retains full operational responsibility for routine cleaning, lighting, drainage, landscaping, and graffiti removal, according to the same reporting from The Roundabout.
The decision to build a tunnel rather than an elevated footbridge dates back to late 2022, when the Johns Creek City Council selected the arch culvert underpass design after staff determined it offered the most direct route, minimized impacts on adjacent properties, and cost significantly less than an overhead crossing, as reported at the time by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The project traces further back to the 192-acre Johns Creek Town Center Vision and Plan the city adopted in 2021, which prioritized safe pedestrian and bicycle crossings over busy state corridors as part of a broader push to convert suburban office parks into a walkable downtown core.
Not the City's First Underpass
This is not Johns Creek's first attempt at turning a state highway crossing into something more than a walkway. In April 2018, the city unveiled the Johns Creek Tunnel beneath State Route 141 near McGinnis Ferry Road, featuring a 130-foot mural by international artist Hanif Kureshi. The new Medlock Bridge Road tunnel arrives alongside other transportation upgrades along Johns Creek Parkway, where crews completed new sidewalk extensions, a roundabout installation at Lakefield Drive, and traffic signal upgrades between 2024 and 2026 to manage growing pedestrian traffic in the area.
City officials have not confirmed whether additional pedestrian tunnels are planned for other stretches of Medlock Bridge Road. For now, the underpass stands as the connective tissue between two of the city's largest recent investments — The Boardwalk park to the east and the Medley development to the west — ahead of Medley's opening at the end of October.
